The pan-European Stoxx 600 notched a fresh intraday record high on Friday and was last 0.39 percent higher. Most major regional bourses and sectors were trading in the green. Tech shares pulled back 0.38 percent, while mining stocks added 0.86 percent and utilities rose by 0.79 percent.The Stoxx 600 had recorded a winning day on Thursday, with tech stocks leading gains as investors considered artificial intelligence heavyweight Nvidia’s latest quarterly earnings report which was released earlier in the week.Euro zone inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.2 percent in August, according to flash figures released by statistics agency Eurostat on Friday. The reading was in line with expectations, and below July’s 2.6 percent print.Elsewhere, France’s preliminary, EU-harmonized consumer price index came in at 2.2 percent for August on an annual basis, down from the 2.7 percent print of July, the country’s statistics office said Friday. Preliminary data from Italy’s statistics agency showed the harmonized CPI came in at 1.3 percent on an annual basis in August, less than in the previous month.In Germany, preliminary annual headline on an EU-harmonized basis eased more than expected to 2 percent in August, compared with the 2.3 percent forecast and July’s 2.6 percent reading. Spain’s preliminary harmonized inflation came in at 2.4 percent for August, also lower than expected and down from than the previous month’s 2.9 percent print.Investors will be closely watching the data for clues about whether another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank could come in September. Also on the data front in Europe, the final reading of the French second-quarter gross domestic product reflected 0.2 percent growth according to the country’s national statistics office, revised down from the preliminary 0.3 percent figure released in July.
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