European Shares Gain On Hopes Of ECB Rate Cut

European stocks eked out modest gains on Thursday as soft eurozone inflation data for March booted hopes for an ECB rate cut in June.

Talking about the June meeting, I think the probability is increasing that we will see a rate cut in June but there are still some caveats," the chief of Germany's Bundesbank told CNBC's Karen Tso at the IMF Spring Meetings on Wednesday.

Geopolitical risk is the biggest threat to a prospective rate cut from the European Central Bank, according to ECB policymaker Robert Holzmann.

Traders awaited comments later today from Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene for further clues on when the central might lower interest rates.

On a light day on the economic front, the European Central Bank reported earlier today that the euro area current account surplus decreased to a 3-month low in February.

The current account surplus dropped to EUR 29.0 billion in February from EUR 39.0 billion in January. This was the lowest surplus since November last year.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 499.75 after ending flat with a positive bias on Wednesday.

The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 added half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1 percent.

Finnish telecom company Nokia fell over 1 percent after its first-quarter operating profit missed expectations.

ABB shares jumped nearly 5 percent after the Swiss engineering firm reported higher Operational EBITA in its first quarter and sounded optimistic about faster revenue growth in 2024.

BP Plc dropped 1.2 percent and peer Shell gave up half a percent after a sharp fall in oil prices overnight on demand concerns.

easyJet rallied 3.3 percent after the airline forecast a smaller-than-expected winter loss.

Mining giant BHP fell about 1 percent after third-quarter iron ore production fell 7 percent.

Gold miner Centamin lost almost 4 percent after Q1 production came in slightly below expectations.

Danone advanced 1.3 percent in Paris. The maker of Activia yoghurt, Evian water and Aptamil backed its FY24 outlook after posting stronger-than-expected quarterly sales.

German lab supplies maker Sartorius lost more than 12 percent after Q1 order intake and revenue missed analyst expectations.

Sartorius Stedim Biotech plunged 14 percent after the company reported net profit of 56 million euros for the first quarter, significantly lower than 111 million euros in the same quarter a year ago, primarily due to lower sales revenue.

Automakers traded mostly higher despite industry data showing that new car sales in the EU decreased for the first time in three months in March amid weaker demand among four major markets.

New car registrations dropped 5.2 percent year-over-year to 1.0 million units in March, reversing a 10.1 percent surge in February - according to monthly data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

BMW and Renault were up around 1 percent each.

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