Calmness prevails in European stocks and the rise of the Swiss index thanks to Novartis earnings expectations

European stock markets were calm on Tuesday as telecoms stocks fell, while Swiss stocks outperformed their regional peers after the earnings forecast for pharmaceutical company Novartis was raised.

The European Stoxx 600 index settled at 457.71 points by 0711 GMT.

The index took a hit on Monday after shares of luxury goods company Richemont tumbled on unexpectedly weak sales, as well as on weak Chinese data.

Novartis shares jumped 2.7% on Tuesday after the company raised its full-year profit forecast and announced plans for its generic drug unit Sandoz early in the fourth quarter.

This pushed the Swiss index up 0.3 percent, after it led losses in Europe on Monday.

The Stoxx 600 index was affected by the losses of telecom companies, as the sector’s shares fell 0.9 percent after Tele2AP’s share plunged 9 percent after the quarterly earnings data was announced.

Meanwhile, the Swedish bank fell 1.1 percent, although operating profit beat expectations in the second quarter.