European stocks increase after the UK election09.06.2017

The indices of European stock exchanges rose on Friday after investors assessed the results of Thursday's events, starting with the UK election in which Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, lost the majority of parliament seats, which puts pressure on Brexit negotiations with the UK and the EU.

During the morning session on the European stock exchanges, EURO STOXX 50 index rose 0.79%, the French CAC 40 added 0.89%, and the German DAX 30 rose 0.72%.

In a report to the Senate committee on Thursday, former FBI director James Comey accused President Donald Trump that he fired him, trying to cease an investigation into the links between the representatives of Trump's election headquarters and Russian officials who were trying to intervene in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The euro appreciated significantly after the ECB lowered the inflation forecast for this year to 1.5% against the previous forecast at 1.7%.

This forecast was made after the European Central Bank, as expected, kept the interest rates unchanged.

The shares of the French financial companies Societe Generale (PA: SOGN) and BNP Paribas (PA: BNPP) rose 1.40% and 1.55%, and German Deutsche Bank (DE: DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE: CBKG) rose 0.76% and 0.97%.

The shares of Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo (MI: ISP) and Unicredit (MI: CRDI) fell 1.62% and 1.48% respectively. Shares of Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC: SAN) and BBVA (MC: BBVA) rose 0.46% and 0.33% respectively.

On the London Stock Exchange, FTSE 100 index rose 0.88% despite the fact that as a result of the elections on Thursday, the Conservative Party of the Prime Minister of Great Britain lost its majority in the parliament, which could lead to the breakdown of negotiations on Brexit.

May faced appeals to resign after none of the parties received an explicit parliamentary majority just 10 days before the start of negotiations on the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Centrica (LON: CNA) rose 3.37% after the company entered into a deal to sell its Canadian natural gas production business to the Hong Kong-based MIE Holdings Corp.

Shares of mining companies also increased: Glencore (LON: GLEN) stocks jumped 1.64%, BHP Billiton (LON: BLT) shares gained 2.07%, and Fresnillo shares (LON: FRES) added 2.58%.

The stock prices of financial companies in the UK declined. Shares of Barclays (LON: BARC) fell 0.68%, Lloyds Banking (LON: LLOY) lost 2.49%, and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON: RBS) fell 2.92%. However, HSBC Holdings (LON: HSBA) did not follow the market trends, having risen in price by 1.66%.