European shares rise 1% on tech boost; ECB meet in focus

By Pranav Kashyap

(Reuters) -European shares climbed 1% on Thursday, buoyed by strong performances among technology stocks, while investors awaited a policy decision from the European Central Bank later in the day where a rate cut is almost a certainty.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 1% at 513.1 points, and set for the best day in more than one month, if gains hold.

All regional bourses were trading north of 1%.

Technology stocks chimed with a rally in their Asian peers, and jumped 2.5% to provide the biggest boost to the European benchmark index.

A Semafor report said the U.S. government is considering letting Nvidia export advanced chips to Saudi Arabia, causing the AI-darling to surge 8%. [.N]

Basic resources gained 2.3% after prices of base metals rose, buoyed by hopes of an interest rate reduction in the U.S. next week. [MET/L].

All sub-sectors but one were trading in the green.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is set to convene at 1215 GMT, with widespread anticipation of a 25-basis-point rate reduction.

All eyes will be on ECB President Christine Lagarde's remarks, due at 1245 GMT, as markets eagerly await confirmation on whether additional rate cuts are on the horizon for October and December.

"A rate cut today is fully baked in. The focus of the market is going to be when is the next ECB rate cut? We're probably not going to get much guidance from that today," said Ben Laidler, head of equity strategy at Bradesco BBI.

"I don't think they need to do anything more aggressive. Clearly they could do though, if the data warranted it ... the ECB is going to go slow and steady."

Meanwhile, Spain's consumer price figures showed the 12-month EU-harmonised inflation eased to 2.4% in August, causing the benchmark IBEX 35 index to gain more than 1%.

Swedish inflation eased 0.5% in August, just below forecast.

Shares of Roche fell 4% after the Swiss drugmaker said promising results of an early-stage trial of its experimental weight-loss pill were based on just six patients.

An overnight reading of U.S. core CPI showed that it rose 0.28% in August, slightly above a forecast rise of 0.2%, and that was enough for skittish markets to finally decide that the Federal Reserve will settle for a 25 bps rate cut next week.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)