Europe stocks rise as investors digest earnings; Kingspan up 10%

European stock markets were were higher Friday midday as earnings remain in focus for investors.

The regional Stoxx 600 was up by 0.54%, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was flat and Germany’s DAX was higher by 0.27% at 2 p.m. London time. Meanwhile, France’s CAC 40 rose by over 0.5%.

European firms Kingspan, Air Liquide, Sika AG and others reported their fourth-quarter earnings. Standard Chartered beat market expectations, and was last trading up by nearly 4%.

Ireland-listed building materials firm Kingspan Group said it was seeing “spectacular” growth in its data center division, with sector revenues rising 36% over the year. The stock was last trading 13% higher.

“A lot of it is driven, unsurprisingly, by the expansion of AI capability worldwide,” said Gene Murtagh, CEO of Kingspan Group on a call with analysts. “If anything, our issue here is being able to build factories at a fast enough pace to keep up with demand, which I guess is a good problem to have.”

Overnight in the United States, the three major averages closed lower after the S&P 500 hit record highs for two consecutive days. Investors sold off shares of some popular companies following a weak forecast from retail giant Walmart, which raised concerns about the economic outlook.

U.S. stocks opened little-changed on Friday.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.98% to its highest level since February 2022, according to data from LSEG.

Shares of Hong Kong listed Alibaba rose 12.9% following a significant profit increase for the company in the December quarter, driven by growth in its Cloud Intelligence division and e-commerce sector.