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 0.9% to 331.47, heading
toward its best close in two weeks, as banking, pharmaceutical and
food issues bounced up. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA advanced 1.2%, Nestle
SA (NSRGY) shares bulked up 1.2%, and Novartis AG climbed 1%.
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 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 a 2.2%
rise in durable-goods orders 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) also remained in firmer territory, rising 0.3%.
In country-specific indexes, Germany's DAX 30 rose 1.1% to
9,436.99, with only shares of Deutsche Lufthansa AG moving
lower.
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 0.8% to 4,379.89, with a 2.3% 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 the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rise was pared to 0.1% at
6,610.24, as Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) dropped 5% after the
U.K. government said it sold a 7.8% stake in the company.
Standard Life PLC (SL.LN) shares, however, rallied 6.3% 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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