Feb 4 (Reuters) - European shares were muted on Wednesday as losses in Novo Nordisk offset strength in energy stocks, with investors also tracking software shares and awaiting a key inflation report.
European Stocks Reach All-Time High Despite Weakness in Tech and Healthcare
European Market Overview
By Avinash P, Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur
Sector Performance
Feb 4 (Reuters) - European shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, though the gains were modest as a telecom sector rally and strength in consumer stocks offset weakness in software companies and a selloff triggered by healthcare company Novo Nordisk's disappointing outlook.
Impact of Earnings Reports
The pan-European STOXX 600 finished up 0.03% at 618.12 points, building on the previous session's record close as European markets recovered from earlier losses.
Key Stock Movements
The telecom sub-index climbed 3.6% to an eight-year high.
The chemical sub-index gained 4.8% and was on track for its biggest daily surge since March 2022.
Shares of GSK gained 6.9%, hitting a 25-year high after new CEO Luke Miels said the British drugmaker will aim to lift sales growth and speed up work on new medicines in its next phase of growth.
"The first set of results under new GSK boss Luke Miels can hardly be said to have made much of a splash, but that may be no bad thing as far as he’s concerned ... the numbers are solid enough even if earnings were a touch off expectations," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.
The healthcare sub-index was lower, though, down 0.3% as Novo Nordisk shares weighed.
The Danish drugmaker tumbled 17.2%, wiping off around $50 billion from the Wegovy maker's market capitalization after it warned its sales and profits would fall in 2026.
Denmark's stock index slid 6.7%, marking its steepest one-day fall since July 2025.
SOFTWARE STOCKS ROUT CONTINUES
Investors were also evaluating the potential repercussions of AI developer Anthropic's launch of plug-ins for its Claude Cowork that analysts said could disrupt the software business worldwide.
Tech and media stocks fell 2.5% and 0.7%, respectively, adding to their steep declines on Tuesday.
"There is a lot of uncertainty around exactly what AI agents can do, and as such, investors are choosing to shun the software market altogether, leaving nowhere to hide," said Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot.
It was also a big day for bank earnings reports across the continent, with the banks' sub-index dropping 1.2%
UBS reported outflows from its U.S. wealth management business on Wednesday and warned there were more to come after losing some relationship managers. Its shares dropped 6.3% despite beating quarterly profit forecasts.
Europe's biggest lender Santander fell 3.5% after the Spanish bank said it would buy U.S. regional lender Webster Financial in a $12.2 billion deal.
Among other movers, shares in Beazley rose 6.9% to a record high as the British insurer agreed to terms of a sweetened 8-billion-pound ($10.97 billion) takeover proposal from Swiss firm Zurich Insurance. Zurich was also up 3.5%.
($1 = 0.7292 pounds)
(Reporting by Avinash P, Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Shinjini Ganguli, Rod Nickel)
