European stock close

European stocks gained for a fourth day, extending a 10-week high, as companies posted better-than-estimated earnings and German investor confidence climbed.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.6 percent to 307.79 at 4:38 p.m. in London, the highest level since May 28. The gauge gained 0.6 percent last week as China’s industrial output rose more than estimated. The index has soared 10 percent in 2013, led by automobile and financial-services companies, as central banks around the world maintained stimulus measures.

Investor confidence in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, rose more than forecast in August. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations advanced to 42 from 36.3 in July.

A report in Washington showed U.S. retail sales climbed for a fourth consecutive month in July, increasing 0.2 percent. The median forecast of economists had called for a 0.3 percent advance.

National benchmark indexes advanced in all of the 18 western European markets today, except Greece and Iceland.

FTSE 100 6,611.94 +37.60 +0.57% CAC 40 4,092.5 +20.82 +0.51% DAX 8,415.76 +56.51 +0.68%

EON rallied 2.2 percent to 12.50 euros, the biggest jump since June 26. The company reported first-half underlying net income of 1.91 billion euros ($2.54 billion), topping the average analyst estimate of 1.79 billion euros.

RWE AG, the second-largest utility in Germany, increased 4 percent to 22.25 euros, the biggest gain in four months.

GAM Holding jumped 11 percent to 17.05 Swiss francs, the largest gain since April 2009. The asset manager that split from Julius Baer Group Ltd. almost four years ago said first-half profit more than tripled after fee and commission income increased.

Deutsche Wohnen AG climbed 2 percent to 14.13 euros, the highest in more than two months. Germany’s second-largest residential landlord by market value said first-half profit jumped 85 percent as acquisitions increased rental income. The company raised its earnings forecast for 2013.

Geberit AG sank 7.6 percent, the most since March 2009, to 235.90 francs. The Swiss maker of toilets and bathroom piping said there’s been “a clear fall in demand” in most European markets since the fourth quarter of 2012 and a continued downturn in public construction in North America.

Schindler Holding AG slid 5.2 percent to 135.90 francs, the biggest decline in almost two years, after the Swiss elevator maker cut its profit forecast.

Schindler projected net income of about 550 million francs ($589 million) to 600 million francs this year, including a 155 million-franc charge on its investment in Hyundai Elevator Co. That compares with an earlier forecast of as much as 790 million francs.