European stocks turned broadly higher on Tuesday, as the U.K. FTSE re-opened after a public holiday, while investors eyed further comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later in the day.
During European afternoon trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 added 0.18%, France’s CAC 40 inched up 0.05%, while Germany’s DAXgained 0.35%.
On Monday, ECB President Draghi said the bank saw a risk of a deflationary cycle taking hold in the euro zone.
Draghi said the ECB is ready to act should it see signs of a negative inflation spiral taking hold, and indicated that the bank is weighing a wide range of policy options, including interest rate cuts, and liquidity injections or broad-based asset purchases to help shore up the fragile recovery in the euro area.
The comments were made at the new ECB annual conference in Sintra, Portugal.
Financial stocks turned broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) gained 0.23% and 0.95%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) jumped 1.05%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) advanced 0.99% and 1.08% respectively, while Spain's BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) rose 0.20% and 0.42%.
Elsewhere, Accor (PARIS:ACCP) rallied 2% after agreeing to buy hotels in
Germany and the Netherlands for about €900 million. The hotel operator added that is in exclusive talks to buy another 11 hotels in Switzerland.
In London, FTSE 100 rose 0.46%, still supported by gains in the financial sector.
Shares in Barclays (LONDON:BARC) climbed 0.50% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LONDON:RBS) advanced 0.70%, while HSBC Holdings (LONDON:HSBA) and Lloyds Banking (LONDON:LLOY) rallied 1.25% and 1.36% respectively.
Lloyds Banking earlier said that it will sell a 25% stake in its TSB consumer bank in an initial public offering next month. The decision came as the European Commission ruled in 2009 that the lender should have to sell part of its business in response to its U.K. government bailout.
Meanwhile mining stocks remained mixed, as Vedanta Resources (LONDON:VED) and Glencore Xstrata (LONDON:GLEN) added 0.09% and 0.27% while Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) and Fresnillo (LONDON:FRES) declined 0.60% and 0.70%.
Astrazeneca (LONDON:AZN) continued to lead losses on the index, plummeting 2.09%, after Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) ended its six-month effort to buy the U.K. drugmaker after offering £69.4 billion, saying the rejected public bid represented "full value."
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce data on durable goods orders, house price inflation and consumer confidence.
