Oct 28 - Europe's main stock index closed higher on Monday as gains across most sectors outweighed the weakness in energy stocks on a slide in oil prices, with investors looking for crucial economic data and big-ticket U.S. tech earnings scheduled for later in the week.The energy sector , dropped 1.3% to a near two-week low as oil prices slid after Iran downplayed Israel's retaliatory strike over the weekend.
"We are making major downward revisions to our ECB interest-rate forecast... the bank will implement back-to-back 50-bps cuts in December and January," Capital Economics' Europe team noted. While markets have started pricing in a second Donald Trump administration recently, Vice President Kamala Harris is leading Trump nationally by a marginal 46% to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
Galp , shed 5% after the Portuguese energy firm gave a longer-than-expected drilling timeline for Namibia's four-well Exploration & Appraisal programme.