The European stocks rose for the fifth consecutive day thanks to some better-than-expected corporate profits, police Bloomberg. The Shares of Ahold chain stores reported the strongest growth since May – with 5 percent after the company announced an increase its dividend by 28 percent. At the opposite pole were shares of shipping company Maersk, which sank 4 percent after the group announced its first annual loss since World War II. Pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index ended trading with a growth of 0,1 per cent to 252.93 points after a highly volatile session. Growth was limited by the end of the planned report on housing sales in the U.S. unexpectedly fell in January. Major national indexes advanced on 9 of the 18 western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 lost 0.1 percent to 5527.16 points while France’s CAC 40 and German DAX retreated with 0.4 per cent respectively to 3828.41 and 5795.32 points.
Stoxx 600 Index decreased for the first two months of the year because of concerns about budget deficits, Greece, Spain and Portugal.