European shares rise as Inditex leads retailers, Novo Nordisk shines

European shares climbed on Wednesday, led by retailers after Spanish fast-fashion giant Inditex reported its second-quarter results, while Novo Nordisk also rose following the Wegovy maker's announcement of restructuring steps, including job cuts.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.4% at 554.9 points, as of 0715 GMT, hovering near a two-week high.

Retailers led sectoral gains with a 2.2% jump, as Inditex climbed 6% after the Zara owner reported an acceleration in sales ahead of the autumn quarter, overshadowing weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales.


Shares of Novo Nordisk rose nearly 2% after the Danish company said it could cut about 11.5% of its workforce. The restructuring plan is expected to save around $1.26 billion annually, as the company struggles to remain competitive in the weight-loss drug market.

It was also an upbeat day for European tech stocks, with German software maker SAP and Dutch company ASML both climbing about 1% each, after Oracle projected over half a trillion dollars in booked cloud orders. The U.S. company's Frankfurt-listed shares surged 30%.