Europe close: Stocks edge up as investors wait on Nvidia

(Sharecast News) - Stock markets on the Continent ended the session a tad higher as investors waited on the results of US tech bellwether Nvidia. Nvidia's results were potentially so important because the euphoria around artificial intelligence had boosted valuations for the largest US stocks to levels last seen around the 2000 bubble, if not above them.

"A miss now would likely spark the next big risk-off move, reversing much of the recent recovery," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"Meanwhile a better set of numbers could give stocks the lift they have been looking for this past week."

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.33% at 520.60.

Germany's Dax was also higher, adding 0.54% to 18,782.29, whilst the Cac-40 edged up 0.16% to 7,577.67.

A day before, strategists at Berenberg had noted how the 10 largest S&P 500 companies by market value were changing hands at a forward price-to-sales ratio of over 10, up from around four times at their 2022 lows.

In equity news, shares in SBB rose 1% after the Swedish real estate group narrowed pre-tax losses in the second quarter even as it continued to wrestle with a debt mountain and looks to restructure its business.

Medical tech firm Elekta gained as first-quarter profits and sales beat expectations.