FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Surprisingly strong business figures from Infineon and growing hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon ease monetary policy again gave tech stocks a strong boost on Thursday. The Stoxx Europe 600 Technology was Europe's strongest sector, rising 3.3 percent. Shares in chip company Infineon rose 6.7 percent, making it part of the top group on the Dax. The German benchmark index gained a good one percent.

Siltronic was up 7.2 percent in the mid-cap MDax after a similarly good quarterly report. The previous day, statements by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had already triggered a price rally on the U.S. tech exchange Nasdaq. In addition, investors reacted to Meta's business figures with great relief, with the social media company's shares rising by around 20 percent in pre-market trading. The Facebook group had performed better than analysts expected in the past quarter despite a decline in sales.

Infineon is becoming more optimistic about its current business despite the threat of a slump in the global economy. The report on the past quarter was also positive overall because the DAX group had raised its forecast despite negative currency effects, wrote analyst Sandeep Deshpande of U.S. bank JPMorgan. The chip company's shares have already gained a quarter in the still young year. As with its peers, Infineon is drawing strength from its automotive supply and other industrial applications businesses, Jefferies analyst Janardan Menon wrote, while smartphones and PCs continue to weaken.

However, the major demand downturn that some industry watchers recently feared is not yet here. Siltronic spoke of continued high capacity utilization, although some customers would see a weaker order situation in the first half of 2023. Nevertheless, the new year would be marked by higher costs and uncertainties. Siltronic shares had fallen as low as 51.65 euros in October on concerns about a downturn in the chip industry, but have since recovered more than 60 percent.

Meanwhile, the prospect of a possible end to the cycle of interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the near future is also boosting sentiment in the sector. As expected, the Fed had only raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points the previous evening. Statements by Federal Reserve Chairman Powell had also seemed less "hawkish", judged Commerzbank. This expression refers to a somewhat less harsh monetary policy stance.

The experts at ING Bank now only expect the Fed to raise interest rates by another 0.25 percentage points in March. Recessionary forces would subsequently even pave the way for rate cuts later in the year, they suggest.

Tech stocks are seen as benefiting from what may be an imminent turnaround in interest rates because, on the one hand, rapidly rising rates make it more expensive for companies to finance themselves. On the other hand, the often highly valued papers often come under pressure in an environment of sharply rising interest rates, because the expected high profits in the future are worth less at the present time. As a result, the online stocks Zalando, Hellofresh, Delivery Hero and Shop Apotheke now also saw a noticeable upward trend. In the USA, the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 had already soared by around 2.2 percent the previous day./niw/la/jha/