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March 18 (Reuters) - Automakers lifted the German DAX to a
record high on Thursday, while euro zone blue-chip stocks jumped
to pre-pandemic levels after the U.S. Federal Reserve vowed to
keep interest rates low despite forecasting a surge in economic
growth.
An index of euro zone's top 50 companies .STOXX50E gained
0.3% in early trading, briefly surpassing its peak hit in
February last year before the COVID-19 pandemic hammered
financial markets.
Germany's blue-chip DAX .GDAXI rose 0.7%, France's CAC 40
.FCHI was up 0.2%, while UK's FTSE 100 .FTSE slipped 0.1%
ahead of the Bank of England's monetary policy decision due
later in the day. The wider pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX rose 0.3% and was
trading less than 2% below its all-time high.
With the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield US10YT=RR rising in
after the Fed decision, economically sensitive sectors such as
automakers .SXAP , banks .SX7P , miners .SXPP and travel &
leisure .SXTP led the gains in Europe. Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE jumped 6.1%, sealing its position as
the most valuable company in Germany's DAX after it overtook
software maker SAP SAPG.DE on Wednesday. Sectors considered as bond-proxies such as utilities
.SX6P , food & beverage .SX3P and healthcare stocks .SXDP
were trading lower.