Travel stocks supported by EasyJet (LON:EZJ) gains after Goldman Sachs raised the airline's stock rating from neutral to buy boosted European markets on Tuesday. The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.15% at the close of local business, with real estate and telecoms leading the gains.
US markets struggled for direction despite a boost from upbeat Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stocks and a rally from Clover Health (NASDAQ:CLOV) as investors exercised caution ahead of key inflation data scheduled for release later this week.
This caution was also felt by Asian markets that were mostly flat, with the Hang Seng down by 0.14%, while the Nikkei ended 0.19% lower.
Locally, the FTSE/JSE All Share Index closed slightly higher after official data showed that South Africa's economy grew by 4.60% on quarter in the first three months of 2021. However, the rand failed to react to better-than-expected GDP data, weakening to R13.58/$, R19.22/£, and R16.54/€ at the close of business.
Spot gold was up by 0.13% at $1 893.04/oz, while platinum rose by 0.37% to $1 163.95 at 19h30.
Brent crude rose to $72.11 a barrel at the close of local markets on the expectation that Iranian supply won't recover swiftly even if the US and Iran were to sign a nuclear deal.
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