ABB climbs as quarterly profit beats expectations
Sartorius dives on Q1 miss
Planisware shares jump in Paris trading debut
ECB 39;crystal clear39; on June rate cut, de Guindos says
STOXX 600 adds 0.3

April 18 Reuters European shares edged up on Thursday, with industrials lifting the benchmark index following ABB39;s upbeat results, while Germanylisted Sartorius was on track for its biggest drop in six months after bleak quarterly orders.

The continentwide STOXX 600 was up 0.3, as of 0854 GMT, as the earnings season picked up steam.

The industrials sector was the biggest boost with a 0.6 rise, driven by a nearly 5.2 surge in ABB as the Swiss engineering company39;s profit trounced market expectations in the first quarter.

On the flip side, shares of Sartorius slumped 11.5 after the lab supplies maker39;s firstquarter figures missed analysts39; expectations for order intake and revenue. The FrancoGerman firm39;s Francelisted shares dropped 13.0.

As markets gear up for a flurry of corporate reports in the weeks to follow, firstquarter earnings are expected to decrease 12.1 from the previous year, according to LSEG data, as of Tuesday.

Subdued earnings could reflect a weakening economy, said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank said, thereby giving the European Central Bank a greater reason to cut interest rates, which could boost risk appetite for European stocks.

The benchmark STOXX is more than 2 away from its alltime closing high hit…