European Shares Advance as Worldwide Tech Stock Selloff Intensifies, Showing Resilience

Stock markets across Europe climbed on Thursday, with investors rotating into defensive sectors as a global selloff in technology shares deepened.

The UK's FTSE 100 index finished the session up 1%, while benchmark gauges in Switzerland and France also moved higher. Defensive corners of the European market, including telecommunications and food and beverage producers, led the gains.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4%. Technology stocks tracked a worldwide slump in chip shares. ASML and Infineon each fell more than 4%; mining stocks also weakened after Antofagasta Plc reported copper output that came in below expectations.

Roland Kaloyan, head of European equity strategy at Societe Generale, said the defensive character of the European market gives it "an interesting negative correlation" with tech stocks, with pharmaceutical shares acting as "a natural portfolio stabilizer."

Switzerland's Novartis and the UK's AstraZeneca were among the biggest contributors of index points to the Stoxx 600.

On the other side, sectors sensitive to economic growth, such as banks, energy and industrial goods, declined.