UKX FTSE 100 Index

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

Stocks across Europe were holding to thin gains Tuesday, with investors largely sitting tight before the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve issue highly anticipated policy decisions.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% at 341.67. Financial and oil and gas shares were in the red, but mining, health care and technology stocks were moving higher.

BHP Billiton PLC (BLT.LN) (BHP.AU) (BHP.AU) and Anglo American PLC (AAL.LN) were up 2% and 1%, respectively, after Macquarie reportedly raised its ratings on the mining heavyweights.

"Financial markets seem to have pressed the snooze button on Tuesday and are not willing to wake up until Wednesday, when the Bank of Japan and the Federal Reserve release their latest monetary policy decisions," Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, said in a note.

"The strong rebound in European equities on Monday was mainly supported by a strong rally in oil prices, but even this catalyst doesn't seem to be in play today," he added.

The pan-European index on Monday jumped 1% as commodity shares led the way higher, resulting in the index's largest percentage rise since Sept. 2.

But as oil prices pulled back from Monday's leap, European energy shares were losing ground. Among oil producers, Spain's Repsol SA (REPYY) fell 1% and Portugal's Galp SGPS SA (GALP.LB) lost 0.8%. Oilfield services provider Saipem (SPM.MI) gave up 2.3%.

Movers: Regus PLC (RGU.LN) dropped 5.7% as CEO Mark Dixon through his Estorn Ltd. holding company reduced his stake (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jp-morgan-places-37-mln-regus-shares-for-ceo-2016-09-20) in the office space rental company to 27.7% from 31.6%, according to FactSet data.

GVC Holdings PLC (GVC.LN) gained 3% as the sports betting and gaming group posted half-year revenue growth and said it's still on track to resume dividend payments in 2017 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gvc-revenue-rises-cfo-richard-cooper-to-step-down-2016-09-20).

Indexes: In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 rose 0.5% to 10,425.12. In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.2% to 4,402.28.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 was 0.3% higher at 6,832.96. Italy's FTSE MIB fell 0.8% to 16,269.30, and Spain's IBEX 35 lost 0.3% to 8,686.50.

Euro: The euro was trading at $1.1202, up slightly from $1.1177 late Monday in New York. Against the yen, the shared currency was buying Yen113.85, compared with Yen113.90 late Monday.

"The Bank of Japan's monetary policy announcement in the early hours of Wednesday morning is still an important event risk for currency markets," wrote Nawaz Ali, U.K. currency strategist at Western Union. "Despite the BOJ cutting rates to -0.1% in January, the yen is one of the strongest currencies this year as long-term traders sense Japan is running out of monetary stimulus."

See:How a 'twist' by the Bank of Japan could upstage the Fed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-a-twist-by-the-bank-of-japan-could-upstage-the-fed-2016-09-17)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2016 05:21 ET (09:21 GMT)

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