(Reuters) – German shares led the gains among European stocks at the open on Thursday as Siemens jumped after posting an upbeat quarterly profit, while investors awaited the UK budget, which is expected to restore confidence in Britain’s economy.
Germany’s DAX index rose 0.9%, while the continent-wide STOXX 600 index gained 0.3% by 0810 GMT.
Siemens jumped 7.2% after the engineering and technology group also said its factory hardware and software continued to witness strong demand.
The European industrial goods index added 0.8%.
Britain’s finance minister Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce spending cuts and tax raises at the Autumn Statement later in the day, which he and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak say are needed to restore investor confidence after the former government’s failed “mini budget” less than two months ago.
London’s FTSE 100 index was 0.2% lower ahead of the announcement, which is due at about 1130 GMT.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
