FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, February March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Staff
March 24, 2020
(Reuters) – European shares attempted another rebound on Tuesday after slumping in the previous session, as a fresh round of monetary and fiscal stimulus offered some relief even as the coronavirus pandemic spreads rapidly across the globe.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index <.STOXX> was up 3% at 0802 GMT, but still set for its worst month since 1987 as the health crisis threatened to crimp global growth, with some analysts seeing a 24% fall in European GDP in the second quarter.
Although investors have largely shrugged off macroeconomic data so far, all eyes will now be on a flash reading of activity surveys from the euro zone due later in the day for signs of the extent of the economic damage from the outbreak.
Travel and leisure stocks <.SXTP>, which have posted some of the heaviest losses this month, were up 2.6% in early trading.
Miners <.SXPP>, insurers <.SXIP> and oil and gas stocks <.SEXP> were the biggest gainers among the major European subsectors, rising between 5% and 6%.
France’s Biomérieux <BIOX.PA> jumped 30% after the healthcare company won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its product aimed at testing for coronavirus.
(Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)
