Miners, energy stocks lead morning gains
Volkswagen dips as MS downgrades to underweight
Banks pressure Italian shares

May 20 Reuters European shares inched up on Monday but gains remained in check as a rise in commoditylinked stocks was offset by uncertainty around the outlook for interest rates.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index rose 0.1 to hover below record highs hit last week.

Miners and oil gas indexes climbed about 0.6 each, leading gains among European sectors as copper prices surged to record highs helped by China39;s property support measures and betterthanexpected industrial data.

Gold prices also hit fresh peaks, while crude prices edged higher amid political uncertainty in major oil producing countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Countering the positive impact from rising commodity prices on equities, euro zone sovereign bond yields climbed after officials from the European Central Bank ECB and the Federal Reserve warned that the monetary easing path remained uncertain.

The ECB will not shy away from starting its easing cycle before the Fed in June, with further rate cuts to follow a total of 100bp cuts are in our books for 2024, with risks tilted to only 75bp i.e. quarterly moves, noted Vincent Chaigneau, head of research at Generali Investments.

Markets are pricing in around 65 bps basis points of ECB rate cuts in 2024, as per LSEG39;s rate probabilities app, compared with 67 bps on Friday.

ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said in an…