Energy, tech stocks boost European shares at open

(Reuters) – Europe’s rose at the open on Thursday, led by energy and technology stocks, as upbeat earnings supported gains in the benchmark.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3% as of 0813 GMT, although it was pinned near its lowest level in three weeks.

Telecoms was among the top five major percentage gainers in the sub-sectors, adding 0.8%, while heavyweight energy stocks advanced 1%.

Deutsche Telekom (OTC:) advanced 2.6% after Europe’s largest telecoms group by market capitalisation raised its full-year core profit forecast and marginally beat third-quarter core profit expectations.

ASML (AS:) gained 2.9% after Europe’s largest tech firm said it expects sales to grow by 8% to 14% over the coming five years, boosting the tech sub-sector 0.9%.

Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) jumped 9.5% after Italy sold a 15% stake in the bank to rival Banco BPM, which also gained 4.2% early on.

Siemens (ETR:) rose 5.8% after the German engineering group beat fourth-quarter profit estimates.

Minutes from the European Central Bank’s (ECB) October policy meeting, where it had cut rates as expected, along with readings of euro-zone third-quarter employment and GDP are due later in the day.