By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks rose Wednesday, gaining
on the possibility that the European Central Bank will enact
further stimulus measures.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.7% to 330.93, its best
close in two weeks, as banking, auto makers and oil issues bounced
up. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA advanced 1.5%, Daimler AG tacked on 2.8%
and French oil company Total SA (TOT) ended up 1.5%.
Equity trading closed just ahead of expected remarks by U.S.
President Barack Obama in Brussels about U.S.-European
relations.
ECB officials on Tuesday indicated they were considering
stepping-up a battle against low inflation. Bank of Finland
Governor Erkki Liikanen said the bank hasn't "exhausted out
maneuvering room," on interest rates, adding that a negative
deposit rate and additional loans to banks are among the tools it
may use. Meanwhile, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann told MNI
that it also hasn't tabled the idea of large-scale asset purchases,
or quantitative easing.
Traders were "latching onto the positives and the prospects of
policy easing in the euro zone," particularly after Weidmann,
"known as a hawk among the ECB" indicated he was open to purchasing
government bonds, said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX
Capital, to clients.
The ECB talk comes as the U.S. Federal Reserve has been reducing
the pace of its own stimulus effort of purchasing government debt
each month.
The Stoxx Europe 600 added to Tuesday's jump of 1.3%, where
gains were in part spurred after a gauge of U.S. consumer
confidence surged to a more than six-year high.
European stocks stayed higher after U.S. figures showed
durable-goods orders rose 2.2% last month, but the Commerce
Department's report underscored widespread weakness in the world's
largest economy, including in business investment. The S&P 500
index(SPX) , however, came off session highs in afternoon
trade.
In country-specific indexes, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 1.2% to
9,448.58, with shares of Merck KGaA bid up 1.2% after the chemical
and pharmaceutical company said it will propose a 2-for-1 stock
split to shareholders in May.
Also in Germany on Wednesday, a report from market-research
company GfK showed the consumer mood in Germany held steady, as
expected, going into April. Consumers see the outlook improving for
the economy, although GfK noted there is uncertainty about how the
crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region will affect consumer
sentiment.
France's CAC 40 gained 0.9% to 4,385.15, with a 2.4% push higher
for Publicis Groupe SA (PUBGY) after the ad agency's chief
executive said approval from Chinese officials for a proposed
merger with Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) is "a matter of weeks."
But a stronger advance for the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index was pared
to less than one point at 6,605.30. Hitting the index were shares
of Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG), down 4.9% after the U.K.
government said it sold a 7.8% stake in the company.
Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) shares, however, rallied 7% after the
company's Standard Life Investments unit agreed to purchase asset
manager Ignis from Phoenix Group for 390 million pounds ($645.2
million) in cash.
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