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* Travel & leisure stocks snap 4-day losing streak
* Continental slumps on Vitesco spin-off
* Weaker metal prices weigh on miners
(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Sept 16 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Thursday as
travel stocks snapped a four day losing streak after Ryanair
lifted its long-term traffic forecast, offsetting concerns about
China's slowing economy that dragged down miners.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index climbed 0.4%,
bouncing off a six-week closing low hit in the previous session.
Travel & leisure stocks rose 3.4%.
Europe's largest low cost carrier Ryanair jumped
7.9% after it raised its long-term traffic forecast. Rivals
easyJet, British Airways-owner IAG and Wizz Air
gained between 3.9% and 7%.
"It's been a slightly better day for markets in Europe,
shrugging off a weak Asia handoff, with some decent gains for
travel and leisure, which has enjoyed a respite after Ryanair's
announcement," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC
Markets UK.
While Asian stocks came under pressure from concerns about
China's economy and the fallout from debt-ridden developer China
Evergrande Group's financial troubles, European stocks
were on a firm footing as strong U.S. data reinforced optimism
about a recovery in the world's largest economy.
Miners including Rio Tinto, Anglo American
and BHP Group were among the top drags as metal prices
fell after China reiterated plans to release more metals from
its reserves.
German automotive supplier Continental AG fell
6.2% to the bottom of STOXX 600 after the spin-off of its unit
Vitesco.
The utilities index was flat after a near 3% fall on
Wednesday. Spain passed emergency measures earlier this week to
reduce energy bills, raising concerns over the hit to utilities'
profits.
Spain's Endesa and Iberdrola extended
losses for a third day to fall to their lowest since 2020.
Italy is also looking to introduce short-term measures to
offset the expected rise in retail power prices, a minister said
in a radio interview.
"Stocks in the sector are suffering from the risks of
regulatory intervention, as in Spain, and it will be necessary
to see how other governments in Europe will intervene," Equita
analysts said.
"Current prices do not reflect high energy and gas prices."
Paris Match magazine owner Lagardere surged 19.5%
after media group Vivendi said it would buy another
stake in the company, paving the way for a full takeover.
British fashion brand Superdry jumped 14.9% after
it forecast a recovery in full-year 2022 revenue.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru
Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Mark Potter)
