Europe close: Hopes of Trump-Putin meet boosts Stoxx

(Sharecast News) - European shares closed in bullish mood on Thursday as the Kremlin announced US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were set to meet in the coming days, while traders also assessed a UK interest rate cut in a tight vote among policymakers.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index finished 0.92% higher at 546 with most major regional bourses trading in the green. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.7% after the rate decision, while Germany's DAX gained 1.11%.

The announcement of the first in-person meeting since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine came a day Putin met Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow for talks.

"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was, in principle, reached upon holding a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," presidential Putin aide Yury Ushakov, according to the Russian state news agency Tass.

Meanwhile, in a 5-4 vote, members of the BoE's monetary policy committee reduced rates for the fifth time this year by 25 basis points to 4% to bolster Britain's creaking economy. The rate is at its lowest level since March 2023.

Tariffs were once again in focus as dozens of countries faced higher duties on their exports to the US as President Donald Trump's latest raft of tariffs came into force.

The "reciprocal" rates, using calculations that have come into question from economists, came into force overnight. Trump once again made the factually incorrect claim that billions of dollars come into America as a result - duties on imports are paid by the customer, affectively leaving US consumers footing the bill.

In equities news, Raiffeisen Bank surged after a Russian court has lifted interim measures that effectively banned the Austrian lender from selling its Russian subsidiary.

Sandoz gained after strong results which lifted peer Novo Nordisk.

Maersk gained as the shipping group lifted its full-year earnings outlook on global demand for ocean container freight.

Rheinmetall fell sharply after the German weapons maker missed second-quarter sales expectations partially due to a delay in domestic defence contracts being awarded.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com