European shares hit all-time highs, global momentum builds

By Alun John

LONDON(Reuters) -European shares rose to a record high on Thursday, boosted by a rally in global stocks that also saw Japan's blue-chip Nikkei index hit an all-time high.

Europe's broad STOXX 600 index rose to 495.77 points, surpassing the 495.46 reached in Jan. 2022, as unexpectedly strong revenue forecasts from U.S. chip giant Nvidia lifted sentiment around the world.

The European benchmark was last up almost 1% on the day, and has rallied almost 4% this year, following a gain of just over 10% last year.

A broadly resilient global economy and hopes of interest rate cuts by major central banks later in the year have boosted global equities.

In Asia trade, Japan's Nikkei rose to a record highalso on Thursday.

The U.S. S&P 500 index is already trading around all time highs, led by gains in large cap tech stocks, while European shares have lagged, and trade at much lower price to earnings ratios.

"Europe's stock market is a great case of is the glass half full or half empty," said Andrew Sheets, global head of corporate credit research at Morgan Stanley, speaking before the milestone was hit.

"On the one hand the market is back up near record highs, and on the other hand, Europe trades at a record discount to the U.S. on a variety of measures."

Large cap European stocks including chip marker ASM International, pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk and luxury retailer LVMH have contributed to the gains in European stocks in recent months.

(Reporting by London markets team; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)