Financials lift European shares higher; Novo Nordisk hits record high By Reuters

(Reuters) – European shares opened marginally higher on Wednesday, rising for the sixth straight session on a boost from financial stocks, while investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day.

The pan-European index was up 0.2% as of 0822 GMT.

Financial services rose 0.5%, lifted by a 1.7% gain in Spanish lender Santander (BME:), which posted a record-high profit for the last quarter of 2023, beating forecasts.

Investor attention was centred on the Fed’s interest rate verdict, due at 1900 GMT, for clues regarding the timing of interest rate cuts in the world’s largest economy.

Upbeat earnings reports from Europe Inc and increasing bets around an interest rate cut from the European Central Bank drove the index to two-year highs earlier this week, and on course to clock its third straight month of gains.

Among major movers, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) gained 1.7%, hitting an all-time high after Europe’s most valuable company forecast another year of double-digit sales and operating profit growth due to its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy.

H&M (ST:), however, slumped 8.9% to the bottom of STOXX 600 after the Swedish fashion retailer posted a fall in Q4 margin, while its CEO decided to step down.

(This story has been corrected to remove reference to Novo Nordisk’s sales and profit forecast being a record in paragraph 6)