- Oil & gas companies gain on higher oil prices
- Euro-zone factory downturn deepened in March
- Unicredit up on share buyback plan
April 3 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Monday, after ending a volatile quarter higher, as oil heavyweights rallied after a surprise announcement by OPEC+ to cut production further lifted crude prices.
The gains were, however, limited by a rise in U.S. and European bond yields that led to technology shares falling 0.7%, as a jump in oil prices stoked fears of persistent inflation.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.1% on the first trading session of the new quarter, after gaining consecutively for the last two quarters.
Oil and gas shares were the top gainers, with the sub-index rising 3.6%, its biggest jump in four months, while travel and leisure shares were the worst performers, falling 1.0%.
Crude prices surged more than 5%, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia announced further oil output cuts of around 1.16 million barrels per day on Sunday.
European shares ended the first quarter higher despite a global banking crisis but concerns persist about higher interest rates nudging the global economy into a recession.
"A higher oil price is obviously good for energy producers, and the suggestion that it could lead to higher interest rates is good news for banks, as higher rates make it easier for them to make money," said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital.
"But elsewhere, it is not such great news, as a tighter monetary policy will drag on demand, potentially curtailing spending."
Shares of oil and gas giants including Total, Shell, BP and ENI rose around 4%, each.
S&P Global's final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the euro zone fell to 47.3 in March from February's 48.5, showing activity at struggling factories across the euro zone fell further last month.
Unicredit was up 2.0%, as the bank started the first tranche of its share buyback programme on Monday of up to 2.34 billion euros ($2.53 billion).
Logistics firm DSV fell 3.2% after a share placement.
UBS was down 1.4%, after Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor opened an investigation into the state-backed takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS Group.
($1 = 0.9232 euros)
Reporting by Shubham Batra and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Rashmi Aich
Source: Reuters