The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) ended 0.6% higher, extending gains to the fifth straight day, its longest winning streak in nearly three months. Rate-sensitive technology stocks (.SX8P) were the top gainers on STOXX 600, jumping 1.7%, with IT provider Softcat (SCTS.L) advancing 5.3% after Citi raised it to "buy". Also supporting STOXX 600 were miners (.SXPP) rising 1.7%, as commodity prices won support from a weaker dollar. [MET/l]A faster-than-expected slowdown in U.S. inflation reinforced bets that the Fed could end its rate hikes soon after July. Shares of Swatch (UHR.S) rose 6.9% after the watchmaker reported record growth in the first half of the year.

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Persons: Barratt, Pierre Veyret, Chris Zaccarelli, Matteo Allievi, Shreyashi Sanyal, Sherry Jacob, Phillips, Janane Venkatraman, William Maclean Organizations: Federal, Citi, ActivTrades, Independent, Alliance, Swatch, Thomson Locations: Tech, U.S, Gdansk, Amruta, Bangalore