European shares rose, buoyed by the real estate sector, as investors awaited the anticipated rate cut by the European Central Bank later in the week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index increased by 0.3% after gaining nearly 1% on Monday. The rate-sensitive real estate sector advanced by 1% ahead of the ECB's interest rate decision on Thursday. With markets fully pricing in a 25 basis-point cut this week, investors were paying close attention to potential cues on further rate cuts in October and December. Geoff Yu, Senior Macro Strategist at BNY, noted that he did not believe the ECB would prefer to adopt a particularly dovish stance at this point. He mentioned that the ECB does not have a growth mandate like the Fed, which has a dual mandate. He observed that developments in the U.S. were still the primary drivers of market sentiment, suggesting that the balance was perhaps overly skewed in favour of the Fed. Given the dominance of U.S. economic data, traders were also focused on the inflation report due on Wednesday, which could provide insight into the scale of the Federal Reserve's rate cut when it meets next week. Later in the day, the first debate between U.S. presidential candidates Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump was expected. Yu commented that there would be direct observation of the event, highlighting its significance not only for the U.S. but also for Europe, considering the tax burden faced by the continent. Germany's DAX index rose by 0.2% following data that showed the country’s inflation had slowed to 2% in August. In the UK, labour data revealed that average weekly earnings, excluding bonuses, were 5.1% higher than a year earlier in the three months to the end of July, although the benchmark FTSE 100 was down by 0.4%. The STOXX was also bolstered by gains in technology companies, with Capgemini and SAP SE rising by 7% and 0.7%, respectively, following Oracle's positive results. However, heavyweight AstraZeneca fell by 5.1%, which capped the STOXX’s gains, after detailed study results indicated that its experimental lung cancer drug did not significantly improve overall survival outcomes for patients.