European stocks went up slightly as investors were being careful while they waited for two major announcements: the European Central Bank’s decision on monetary policy and an important inflation report from the United States, both due later in the day.
The overall European STOXX 600 index rose by 0.1% to 553.03 points. The personal and household goods sector led the gains, increasing by 0.5%.
This sector was helped by a 1.5% rise in the share price of Kering, the company that owns Gucci. Kering announced that it will delay the full purchase of the Italian fashion brand Valentino until at least 2028. This decision pushed back an expensive deal that had been a burden on the heavily indebted company.
On the FX front, The U.S. dollar index went up slightly by 0.1%, marking its third straight day of increases. The euro also saw a small gain, rising 0.04% to $1.1699.
The dollar was flat against the Japanese yen, trading at 147.43 yen, following new data that showed Japanese wholesale prices rose 2.7% in the year up to August. This increase, which was faster than the previous month, suggests that inflation is becoming a persistent problem in Japan.
The Australian dollar slipped 0.1% to 0.66095, pulling back from the highest levels it had reached since November on Wednesday. This happened as the prices of commodities like crude oil and gold gave up their recent gains.
The offshore Chinese yuan strengthened slightly by 0.03%, trading at 7.1184 per dollar in early Asian trade. The New Zealand dollar slipped 0.1% to 0.5936.
The British pound was unchanged for the day, trading at 1.3525.
For more on the Euro, read USD/JPY Technical: Mild JPY strength detected ahead of US CPI
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