By Christopher Whittall and Riva Gold 

Global stocks mostly rose Wednesday as investors shrugged off concerns over an escalation in geopolitical tensions.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 1.1% midmorning, after dropping 1.2% on Tuesday following reports that the Turkish military shot down a Russian fighter jet along the Syrian border.

U.S. futures markets pointed to a 0.4% opening gain for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Changes in futures aren't necessarily reflected in market moves after the opening bell.

Meanwhile, Asian markets slipped slightly as investors in the region reacted to news of the downed jet.

Investors are likely to bet there won't be a further flare up in geopolitical tensions as long as NATO stands with Turkey, said Mike Bell, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which oversees $1.7 trillion in assets.

Instead, markets are more focused on the prospect of further monetary stimulus--also known as quantitative easing, or QE--at the European Central Bank's meeting next week and whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December, he said.

"There is a strong likelihood the ECB is going to expand the QE package" and cut interest rates further, said Mr. Bell, adding this should boost European stocks heading into year-end.

Mr. Bell said investors were also taking cheer from signs the Federal Reserve believes the U.S. economy will be strong enough to withstand the first rate rise in almost a decade.

Gains in Europe were led by shares in travel and leisure companies, which rose 1.5%. These stocks remain down 1.9% this week following a sharp fall on Tuesday.

The drop in European stocks on Tuesday "was probably driven by short-term considerations," said Christoph Hilfiker, a fund manager at LLB Asset Management, which holds 10 billion Swiss francs ($9.8 billion) in assets under management.

Mr. Hilfiker said he is focused on company valuations and currently sees some opportunity in European stocks and sectors like technology in the U.S.

"When there's fear, there's a good entry point," he said.

Elsewhere, shares in Spanish banks were hit after Spanish engineering firm Abengoa SA said it is filing for preliminary credit protection. Shares in Banco Popular Español SA fell 4.9%, Banco Santander SA slipped 3.2%, Caixa Bank SA dropped 3.5% and Banco de Sabadell SA fell 3.6%.

The losses dragged down Spain's IBEX 35 0.5%.

Shares in basic resources companies, which have been volatile of late, were down 0.4%, taking losses to nearly 11% so far this month. Shares in Anglo American PLC fell almost 6%.

In Portugal, the yield on 10-year government bonds yields fell slightly as prices rose following the appointment of a new prime minister on Tuesday that ended weeks of political uncertainty.

In Asia, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was 0.5% lower, but the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9%.

Tuesday's gains in oil prices kept a lid on losses, supporting energy companies in Asia and sending Wall Street to a slightly higher close.

Brent crude oil was last down 1.5% at $45.42 a barrel, but remains up almost 3% so far this week.

In currencies, the euro fell 0.4% against the greenback to $1.0611 and the dollar was up slightly against the yen at Yen122.5600.

In commodities, gold was down 0.1% at $1,072.60 a troy ounce.

Later Wednesday, investors will parse a raft of U.S. data including readings on the housing sector, weekly jobless claims, consumer sentiment, durable goods orders and inflation on the last day of trading before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Write to Christopher Whittall at christopher.whittall@wsj.com and Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2015 05:53 ET (10:53 GMT)