Europe's STOXX 600 ends week higher as tech stocks rebound
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Luxury stocks aid gains on France's CAC 40
Elisa slumps on unexpected Q3 revenue fall
Goldman Sachs slashes STOXX 600 2024 earnings growth forecast
STOXX 600 up 0.2%
Updated at 1602 GMT
By Paolo Laudani, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian
Oct 18 (Reuters) -Europe's STOXX 600 ended higher on Friday, as tech stocks made a strong comeback at the end of a bumpy week, while the European Central Bank's rate cut and a flurry of corporate earnings helped the index deliver a second straight week of gains.
The STOXX 600 .STOXX closed up 0.2% as the tech sector .SX8P led gains with a 2% jump.
That cut the weekly loss for the tech index to 6%, but it remained the worst-performing sector this week after ASML's ASML.AS weak 2025 sales forecast sparked a rout in chip stocks globally.
The computer chip equipment maker's shares were up 1% on Friday, while chip stocks Soitec SA SOIT.PA and BE Semiconductor Industries BESI.AS were up 5.6% and 2.8%, respectively.
Basic resources shares .SXPP climbed 1.4%, boosted by strong copper prices.
The luxury stocks index .STXLUXP rose 1.1% after a sell-off earlier this week following LVMH's LVMH.PA weak third-quarter sales.
With LVMH, other luxury giants such as Gucci-owner Kering PRTP.PA and Hermes HRMS.PA rose 3.5% and 1% respectively, aiding France's main CAC 40 index .FCHI that gained 0.4%.
Brunello Cucinelli BCU.MI rose 2.6% following the Italian luxury group's strong nine-month revenue performance.
However, brokerage Goldman Sachs slashed its 2024 earnings growth forecast for Europe's STOXX 600 index .STOXX to 2% from 6%, citing risks from rising corporate taxes and potential trade tariffs.
On the policy front, the ECB trimmed its interest rates to 3.25% on Thursday. Sources told Reuters a fourth cut in December was likely unless key data turned south by then.
The STOXX index hit record highs multiple times earlier this year, but has struggled to make any gains since mid-May as sluggish economic growth and weak Chinese demand held back investors, despite European stocks trading at cheaper valuations than their U.S. peers.
"The particular point of vulnerability for Europe, is that the economic downside looks to be much riskier than in the U.S., so trend growth is slower and you're much more vulnerable to downside risks and shocks," said Daniel Murray, deputy CIO & global head of research at EFGAM.
Elisa ELISA.HE fell 4.7% after the Finnish telecom company's third-quarter revenue missed expectations, while Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge GETIb.ST dropped 5% after third-quarter core earnings missed forecasts.
STOXX 600 heads for weekly gains but tech stocks are bruised https://reut.rs/3A6I3ej
Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Mark Potter
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