Shares in Europe’s largest groups hit their highest level in almost 12 months yesterday, as the ECB’s announcement of a continuation of its aggressive policy did not dampen investors’ hopes that the cycle of rising borrowing costs is coming to an end. The pan-European STOXX eurozone index rose 1.8%, reaching its highest level since last year on February 18. And the broader index of the largest EU 600 groups, the STOXX 600, rose 1.35%. In London, the FTSE 100 ended yesterday’s session up 0.76%, the DAX up 2.16%, the CAC 40 in Paris up 1.26%, the FTSE MIB in Milan up 1.49% and the IBEX in Madrid up 1. .45%. The European Central Bank yesterday raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points and signaled that at least another change of the same magnitude will follow next month. After that, he will consider what will be the course that his monetary policy will follow in the future. The ECB, it is worth noting, issued a more aggressive statement compared to its colleague Jerome Powell from the US Federal Reserve Bank, as well as a softer statement from the Bank of England. However, analysts stressed that the stance of the European Central Bank did not come as a surprise, and investors did not lose hope for an early completion of the cycle of increase, despite the fact that ECB President Christine Lagarde opposed this narrative. “Even after this attempt by the ECB, in which it has been very aggressive and uncompromising in its approach, the market is not fully accepting it,” said Craig Erlam, director of market intelligence at OANDA. “It seems that investors are set on the fact that the de-escalation of inflation will continue and will occur at a serious and sustainable pace. And this will give central banks the opportunity not to pursue such a tough cycle of monetary tightening as they themselves would like the markets to believe,” concluded Mr. Erlam. Yesterday, the euro fell 0.6% against the dollar to $1.0919.