LONDON: European stock markets staged a technical rebound Wednesday after recent falls, taking their lead from firmer commodity prices, with company news also helping support share prices.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares climbed 1.07 percent to 5,923.49 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX rose 0.65 percent to 7,303.53 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.92 percent to 3,978 points.
‘After five days of steady losses, the FTSE has opened up ... on an overnight rally in oil and healthy buying on equity markets in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea,’ said Spreadex trader Christopher Purdy.
‘European equity markets have had a much more buoyant tone today bolstered by some positive company updates after the bell in the US and in the UK,’ said CMC Markets market analyst Michael Hewson.
Brent crude oil rose back above $111 on Wednesday as the dollar weakened and ahead of energy inventory data from the United States.
That boosted the share prices of energy groups, with BP up 1.44 percent to 441.05 pence and Cairn Energy rising 2.31 percent to 429.90 pence.
BP was also in focus as Russia's state-run oil firm Rosneft said it had received new cooperation proposals from the British company after their joint Arctic exploration agreement collapsed this week.
The Russian giant did not give details nor make clear whether they included a potential new Arctic agreement covering joint exploration of Russia's northern reserves.
A statement Wednesday said the offers were made as the sides tried to negotiate a way out of a dispute between BP and its TNK-BP Russian joint venture which scuppered the $16 billion deal.
The banking sector was also tracked as Spanish banks reported a fall in the proportion of bad loans on their books in March, ending a five-month run of increases.
Elsewhere in Europe, Brussels nudged up 0.15 percent, Milan added 0.16 percent, Madrid rose 0.36 percent, Amsterdam gained 0.40 percent, Lisbon put on 0.44 percent and Swiss stocks climbed 0.60 percent.
In a mixed day for lenders, Moody's downgraded the debt ratings of Australia's big four banks to Aa2, citing their dependence on volatile lending markets.
The move was well-flagged, with Moody's placing the banks on a negative ratings watch in February, and brings them in line with the other two major ratings agencies, Standard & Poor's and Fitch, analysts said.
In Tokyo, Japanese shares rose 0.99 percent, helped by stellar earnings by US computer maker Dell, a weaker yen and optimism for a quicker-than-expected recovery for earthquake-hit suppliers, traders said.
US stocks opened lower but had crawled back into positive territory by midday.
At 1600 GMT the Dow Jones Industrial Average of the top 30 blue chips was up 0.18 percent at 12,502.13 points
The broader S&P 500 gained 0.43 percent to 1,334.71 points while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.51 percent to 2,782.65 points.
Countering Hewlett-Packard's glum forecast a day earlier, computer giant Dell beat expectations by tripling first-quarter profit to $945 million.
Dell's shares rose over five percent in early trade.
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