Strong earnings support European bourses; BP profit shines

European shares extended gains on Tuesday after the European Central Bank chief eased concerns around faster monetary policy tightening this year, while investors also found comfort in a positive corporate earnings season.

The benchmark STOXX 600 was up 0.3%, as of 0830 GMT. Oil stocks were among the biggest gainers in the pan-European index, advancing 0.8% after BP reported a profit of $12.8 billion in 2021, the highest in eight years, as natural gas and oil prices soared.

Shares of the London-based energy giant gained 1.7%.


There is no need for big monetary policy tightening in the euro zone as inflation is set to fall back and could stabilize around 2%, ECB's Christine Lagarde said on Monday.

Shares of NENT rose 2.4% after the Swedish media group announced a 33% surge in subscribers for its streaming service Viaplay in the fourth quarter as it expanded to more countries while competing with bigger rivals Netflix and Disney+.

French lender BNP Paribas fell 3.5% after announcing lower-than-expected pre-provision profit hit by higher costs in its quarterly update.