European shares soared to a four-month high on Thursday as another string of estimate-beating corporate results surprised investors who had braced for a weak show.
Handset maker Nokia, short interest in which had reached record level ahead of results, surged 12 percent to top the European leaderboard after reporting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
French industrial connglomerate Alstom, Biotech company Actelion, home appliances maker Electrolux and AkzoNobel all reported strong results.
The FTS Eurofirst 300 index provisionally closed up 1 percent at 1,063.73 points.
It looks like it has been a decent start but overall I suspect the season will be a miss (due to) the deterioration in the macroeconomic environment over the past two or three months, Daniel McCormack, a strategist with Macquarie, said.
The rally we’ve had since June 4 has been driven by defensives and I think that reflects lack of conviction on the part of investors.