* STOXX 600 marks fifth straight weekly loss
* Travel & leisure, energy stocks jump from multi-year lows
* ECB will have to do more - analyst
* Germany's Osram Licht tops STOXX 600
(Updates to close)
By Ambar Warrick and Sagarika Jaisinghani
March 20 (Reuters) - European shares ended higher for a
second straight day on Friday but pared most of the session's
gains as fears over the economic shock from the coronavirus
quashed initial optimism.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX ended up 1.8% but
closed its fifth straight week in the red. Investors had
initially taken some heart from emergency measures by the Bank
of England on Thursday, as well as news of further sovereign
bond issuance in Europe. However, in what is likely a recurring trend, gains made on
the back of regional stimulus measures failed to hold, as seen
with steps by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank
last week, which did little to stem the equity rout.
"We think that it is too early to say with any degree of
certainty that markets have found a bottom, to be honest. We
remain of the view that markets will only stabilise when there
are signs that the pandemic is being brought under control,"
said Simona Gambarini, markets economist at Capital Economics in
London.
"The ECB will eventually have to go further. We think that
the ECB will commit to keep sovereign bond yields low for all
governments at least for the duration of the coronavirus
crisis."
The outbreak showed little signs of stopping, as the death
toll in Italy overtook that in China. The economic shock from
the outbreak also looks primed to send the global economy into
recession. Italian stocks .FTMIB closed about 1.7% higher.
The travel and leisure sector .SXTP - the worst hit by the
outbreak - led gains for the day, surging nearly 10% after
touching a near 19-year low earlier in the week.
The sector underperformed its peers for the week.
Energy stocks .SXEP closed about 6% higher, coming off a
24-year low touched earlier in the week.
Defensive sectors such as telecom .SXKP and healthcare
.SXDP were among the best weekly performers, indicating that
caution was still the preferred play.
The media sector .SXMP dropped 1.9% for the day, with Auto
Trader Group AUTOA.L bottoming out the sector after JP Morgan
and Jefferies cut their price targets on the group.
Among individual movers, German electrical parts maker Osram
Licht AG OSRn.DE topped the STOXX 600, jumping nearly 40%
after Swiss semiconductor company AMS AMS.S confirmed its
public offer for the firm. British retailer Marks & Spencer MKS.L was the latest to
warn about an impact in its clothing, homewares and
international businesses, sending its shares down 7%.
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