Barclays lifts Europe's STOXX 600 annual target by 6%, turns bullish on region

April 3 (Reuters) - Barclays on Wednesday raised its 2024 year-end target for Europe's STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab to 540 from 510, and also turned bullish on the broader region on bets of easing borrowing costs, cheaper valuations and improving domestic growth.

The brokerage's new target implies a near-6% upside to the benchmark index's Tuesday's close of 508.57, and joins Citigroup and Goldman Sachs which lifted their targets to 540 in March.

"We see catch-up potential for Europe," Barclays economists said as they upgraded the region to "overweight".

"Structural issues and geopolitical risks for Europe are not going away, while Big Tech still plays for the U.S., but we see relative value and depressed positioning improving the tactical risk-reward for Europe/UK," the brokerage added.

With China being a major market for major European sectors like luxury, Barclays said signs of stabilization in the recovery of the world's second-largest economy will also aid European equities.

Data on Wednesday showed euro zone inflation fell unexpectedly in March, solidifying the case for the European Central Bank (ECB) to start lowering borrowing costs from record highs.

Inflation has been on a steady downward path for more than a year, but the pace of decline has increased since last autumn, shifting the debate to just how soon and how fast the ECB will unwind rates.

"Europe appears to be rebounding from a low level, amid improving manufacturing, easing financial conditions and improving consumer backdrop," the brokerage said.

Barclays also upgraded Europe's chemicals sector to "overweight", but downgraded the healthcare sector to "market weight".