May 3 Reuters European shares rose on Wednesday as investors turn optimistic that U.S. Federal Reserve may signal a pause in its 14month tightening cycle after raising interest rates for the last time later in the day.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index inched up 0.2 by 0715 GMT, after a sharp selloff in the previous session.

Oil and gas shares were the top gainers on the index, rising 0.6, recovering some of its losses from Tuesday.

Automobile shares were in the red, falling 0.8.

Investors anticipate that the Fed will follow through with a quarter percentage point hike at the end of its latest twoday policy meeting. The statement is due to be released at 2 p.m. ET 1800 GMT, with Chair Jerome Powell scheduled to speak to reporters half an hour later.

Data on Tuesday showed banks are sharply turning off the credit taps, making a case for a smaller hike by the European Central Bank on Thursday.

Shares in Italy39;s UniCredit jumped 5 as the lender raised its financial targets for the year after it posted strongerthanexpected firstquarter earnings

Signify, the world39;s biggest lighting maker, fell 7.0 on missing firstquarter core profit expectations.

Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema

Source Reuters