A sculpture of the Euro currency stands in the city centre of Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, on January 25, 2024.LONDON — European stocks were higher Thursday as traders anticipated that the European Central Bank will cut borrowing costs for the euro area for the first time since September 2019.approached a record intraday high, up 0.7% at around 11:40 a.m. London time. All major bourses and the vast majority of sectors were trading in the green, with tech stocks jumping 1.
6% while telecoms fell 0.2%.climbing as much as 3.9% to hit a fresh record high amid continued demand for its blockbuster Wegovy weight loss drugs.Although the ECB is widely expected to cut interest rates when policymakers meet, investors will be watching closely to see whether a slightlyrose overnight as investors awaited the central bank's rate cut, while softer U.S. labor market data on Wednesday fueled hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve might follow suit, boosting market sentiment.