By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks pushed higher Tuesday,
getting a lift from oil stocks and a handful of banks, but Publicis
Groupe SA was among decliners following a sales warning from the
French advertising heavyweight.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1.2% to 341.84,
erasing Monday's loss of 0.5%.
The oil group was the best performing during the session so far,
with shares of France's Total SA climbing 2.7% after Monday's fall
of 0.9%. Italy's Eni SpA added 1.6% and Royal Dutch Shell and BP
PLC each tacked on 1.2%.
Banks were also higher, although Credit Suisse Group (CS) fell
1.8% after the Zurich-based bank posted a larger-than-expected
second-quarter loss stemming from a U.S. legal settlement reached
two months ago.
Gainers among banks included heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC
(HSBC), up 1.4%, and Banco Santander SA (SAN) , which rose
1.3%.
Russian stocks were set for their first win in seven sessions.
Russia's blue-chips MICEX Index picked up 2% at 1,411.06, with oil
firm Rosneft up by 0.9% and state-run airline Aeroflot higher by
3%.
The MICEX slid 2.7% on Monday. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron
on Monday called on European leaders to impose sanctions against
the Russian oil, banking and defense industries if the government
continued supplying weapons and other support to pro-Russian rebels
in Ukraine, according to news reports. Russian separatists have
been blamed for downing a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight last
week that killed all 298 passengers and crew members.
European Union foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels on
Tuesday to discuss imposing tougher sanctions against Russia.
Topping gainers on the Stoxx 600 was IG Group Holdings PLC.
Shares jumped 8.5% after the spread-betting and
derivatives-trading-services provider said full-year profit rose
even as it reported a "subdued backdrop" late in the year.
ARM Holdings shares climbed 5.6% after the computer-chip
designer said second-quarter profit rose on higher chip shipments
and licensing revenue.
A top decliner for the Stoxx 600 was Publicis Groupe SA . Shares
fell 4.8% after Chief Executive Maurice Lévy said the company may
not reach its full-year sales-growth target. The company also
reported a decline in profit and lower sales growth than expected
for the first half of the year. A planned merger with Omnicom Group
Inc. (OMC) collapsed earlier this year.
In Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 1.3%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100
index tacked on 0.9%.
Meanwhile, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 1.1%, on track for its
first win in four sessions. The International Monetary Fund on
Monday raised its 2014 growth forecast for German gross domestic
product to 1.9%, from a previously expected 1.7%. Medium-term
growth, however, could remained constrained, in part, by "the still
weak and precarious international environment", said the IMF.
The political crisis between Russia and Ukraine, and the impact
of sanctions against Russia, have been a concern for the outlook of
German businesses that have trading ties to Russia.
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