European shares gain on earnings relief, but still log worst month in a year

Oct 31 (Reuters) - European shares climbed on Tuesday, with investors drawing comfort from a slew of corporate earnings beat, but the benchmark index still ended October sharply lower on concerns about economic growth and interest rates staying higher for longer.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) closed 0.6% higher, but still posted its worst monthly performance since September 2022.

The benchmark index logged its third straight monthly decline, down nearly 3.7% during the period.

"I'm not reading too much into today's gains, as to some degree, it's kind of making up for lost ground," said Michael Field, European equity strategist at Morningstar.

"We're back in that place where equities aren't expensive, but they're not cheap either. Unless the economic picture changes to the positive, there's no reason why equity markets should rally strongly into the year-end."

Euro zone economic growth was weaker than expected in the third quarter, a flash estimate showed, with gross domestic product contracting slightly quarter-on-quarter and the year-on-year growth rate slowing sharply.

German retail sales fell in September due to persistently high inflation.

Investor focus turned to central bank decisions by the U.S. and UK later this week.

For the day, real estate (.SX86P) was the top sector performer with a 2.7% advance, with Belgian healthcare real estate investment firm Aedifica (AOO.BR) jumping 5.0% after raising full-year earnings outlook.

The chemicals sector (.SX4P) rose 1.7% as Germany's BASF (BASFn.DE) added 4.5% despite a drop in third-quarter core earnings and a downgrade in its full-year guidance as markets feared worse results.

The energy sector (.SXEP) was the worst hit due to a 4.6% fall in BP (BP.L) after third-quarter earnings missed analysts' forecasts.

Engineering group Wartsila (WRT1V.HE) was the top gainer on the STOXX 600, up 15.4%, after beating third-quarter result estimates and a positive outlook surprise.

Germany's Uniper (UN01.DE), which was bailed out during Europe's energy crisis, jumped 9.5% after swinging to a nine-month net profit.

Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) slipped 0.8% after sources said the company is considering selling a part of its 24% stake in Indian-listed Siemens Ltd (SIEM.NS) to former parent Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) to shore up its balance sheet. Siemens AG shares gained 1.0%.

Of the 158 companies in the STOXX 600 that have reported earnings to date, 57.6% beat analyst estimates, according to LSEG data.

Meanwhile, Rolls Royce (RR.L) gained 6.6% on a ratings upgrade by Barclays.

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