Aug 28 - Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 clocked its best one-day performance in a month on Monday in an overall market advance, boosted by China-exposed industrials on Beijing's measures to aid its ailing stock market.
Traders widely stuck to their bets of a pause in U.S. interest rate hikes in September even though Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stressed the need for further hikes at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. A report showed European Central Bank policymaker Robert Holzmann sees a case for another hike if there are no big surprises in inflation before then, while French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire does not expect rates to go down in the coming months.Meanwhile, fresh evidence that sharply higher interest rates are putting a brake on credit creation and economic activity came in the form of a further slowdown in growth in lending to euro zone companies in July.
With just a few days until August-end, the STOXX 600 is set for its worst month this year, led by basic resources, weighed down by elevated bond yields and a worsening economic outlook for the euro zone and top export market China.