By Ankika Biswas and Khushi Singh
(Reuters) -European stocks climbed on Thursday as investors took comfort in upbeat earnings and an in-line U.S. inflation print, while Germany's benchmark index touched a record after preliminary data showed slowing inflation in the continent's top economy.
The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 0.1% higher, led by a more than 1% advance in the insurance and construction and material sectors.
The STOXX 600 hit a record high last week, riding on stronger-than-expected earnings reports and a jump in technology stocks inspired by Nvidia's blowout forecast. The flagship index also logged its fourth consecutive monthly gain.
The German DAX climbed 0.4% to a fresh all-time high after data showed cheaper energy prices slowed inflation down to 2.7% in February.
Other preliminary inflation readings from France and Spain suggested euro zone inflation dipped further, strengthening the case for European Central Bank rate cuts this year, even if data suggest a much slower decline in underlying prices. However, France's CAC 40 and Spain's IBEX 35 lost 0.3% and 0.7% respectively.
"The message here is we're still on the right track, but the road to normalization is likely to be rather long and not going to be a smooth ride ... It's not going to be a linear deceleration back to 2%," Barclays Private Bank chief market strategist Julien Lafargue said.
The broadly in-line figures indicate euro zone inflation, due on Friday, will show a slowdown to around 2.5% in February from 2.8% January, moving closer to the ECB's 2% target.
Also boosting sentiment were data showing the annual increase in U.S. prices was the smallest in three years, keeping the prospects of a mid-year Federal Reserve rate cut alive.
CRH jumped 6% as the Ireland-based building materials producer said it expects more profit growth after beating 2023 targets.
NN Group climbed 8.1% after the insurer announced higher-than-expected 2023 operating capital generation and hiked 2025 targets.
Subsea 7 advanced 5.3% after the Norwegian offshore service provider proposed shareholder returns of $1 billion over four years, while reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.
Italian luxury group Moncler gained 5% following a sales beat, while Universal Music Group rose 4.9% after new savings targets and a fourth-quarter sales beat.
On the flip side, Amadeus dropped 7.3% after Reuters reported Fiserv and the Spanish travel booking group are competing to acquire payments processor Shift4 Payments.
Drugmaker Grifols tanked 34.9% after a 72% plunge in 2023 profit, while German semiconductor tools maker Aixtron lost 18.7% after forecasting a 2024 margin below expectations and a client reported the unexpected cancellation of one of its own major contracts.
(Reporting by Khushi Singh, Sruthi Shankar and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Anil D'Silva and Andrew Heavens)
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