(Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday, with media and travel stocks in the lead, as signs of easing U.S. inflation offered some relief to investors worried about the impact of the Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy.
On Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq touched an over eight-month high on Wednesday, boosted by a slightly lower-than-expected increase in April inflation, which spurred hopes of the Fed pausing its rate-hike cycle in June.
ING Groep added 2.9% after the largest Dutch bank reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit and announced a new share buyback programme of up to 1.5 billion euros ($1.65 billion).
Meanwhile, Bayer slid 5.0% as the German diversified group said its 2023 results would likely come in at the lower end of its target range, hurt by cost inflation and the reversal of last year's price boost for its glyphosate-based weedkillers.
Miners and automakers led declines among the European sectors, with several companies including Volkswagen trading ex-dividend.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
