by Augustin Turpin

(Reuters) – European stock markets ended higher on Tuesday at the end of a hesitant day and Wall Street was in the green at mid-session, while technology and financial services stocks livened up trading against a backdrop of caution before the monetary policy meeting of the American Federal Reserve (Fed).

In Paris, the CAC 40 ended up 0.6% at 8,201.05 points. The British Footsie 0.19% and the German Dax 0.31%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index 0.47%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.25% and the Stoxx 600 0.26%.

At closing time in Europe, the Dow Jones gained 0.77%, the Standard & Poor’s 500 0.40% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.29%.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) ended its negative interest rate policy on Tuesday by deciding on a first increase in the cost of credit in 17 years, at a time when the markets hope that the major central banks, which are meeting this week, will ease their monetary conditions soon.

Investors are also weighing the possibility that the Fed will reduce the number of planned rate cuts this year to two from three, after data last week showed U.S. inflation remains higher than expected.

“We don’t think the Fed will fundamentally change its inflation outlook based on double digits higher than expected to start the year,” said Christopher Hodge, an analyst at Natxis CIB Americas.

“However, we expect a slightly more ‘hawkish’ tone in the hope of maintaining control over financial conditions,” he added.

VALUES

Atos shares plunged 19.1% after announcing the end of its discussions with Airbus for the sale of its BDS (Big Data & Security) activity, a new episode in the crisis shaking the IT services group.

Siemens fell 5.76% after its chief financial officer, Ralf Thomas, told a Bank of America conference that revenues from its flagship division, specializing in digital industries, would be stable in the second quarter.

On the upside, Lhyfe soared 10.86% after announcing Monday evening that it had received a subsidy of 149 million euros from the French government to build a green hydrogen production plant near Le Havre.

Unilever rises 3.1% after announcing the spin-off of its ice cream business as an independent entity as part of a new cost-cutting plan.

A WALL STREET

Nvidia action returned to positive territory (0.82%) mid-session after having fallen by around 1%, on the second day of its annual conference for developers (GTC) and after the presentation by the semi-automatic giant drivers for the artificial intelligence (AI) of its new flagship product, the Blackwell B200 chip. [L6N3FX0IA]

TODAY’S INDICATORS

Investor morale in Germany improved more than expected in March, driven by expectations of an upcoming reduction in interest rates by the ECB and by Chinese growth, shows the monthly survey published Tuesday by the institute of economic studies ZEW.

CHANGES

The Japanese yen fell by 1.2%, widening its losses after the BoJ’s announcement, while the dollar advanced (0.4%) against a basket of reference currencies, the euro losing 0.09% at $1.0861.

RATE

Euro zone bond yields fell on Tuesday, with the 10-year German Bund shedding 1.7 basis points (bps) to 2.44% after data showed a bigger-than-expected improvement from investors across the Rhine. The US Treasury with the same maturity lost 2.8 bp to 4.3124%, and the two-year Treasury 3.2 bp to 4.7043%.

OIL

Oil prices reached their highest level in four months, but this increase was limited by the prospect of higher exports from Russia, which nevertheless still faces attacks from Ukraine on its oil infrastructure.

Brent rose 0.47% to 87.3 dollars per barrel, with light American crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) increasing 0.83% to 83.41 dollars.

(Writing by Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)

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