By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European market stocks rose Wednesday,
gaining on the possibility that the European Central Bank will
enact further stimulus measures.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.3% to 329.60, with mining
shares up as similar anticipation that China will adopt measures to
stabilize the economy helped push prices for copper and other
metals higher. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC led the mining sector by
rising 1.4%, and BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) tacked on 0.7%.
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 has 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 amongst 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.
In country-specific indexes, Germany's DAX 30 rose 1.1% to
9,441.98, with ThyssenKrupp AG up 2.6%, and Fresenius Medical Care
AG riding 1.3% higher. France's CAC 40 gained 1.1% to 4,380.09.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index picked up 0.5% to 6,640.12, but the
rise was limited in part by a 3.3% loss for Lloyds Banking Group
PLC after the U.K. government said it sold a 7.8% stake in the
company.
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