LONDON: European stocks rose Wednesday, with the sliding pound and rebounding commodity prices pushing London to ever new highs, while prices on Wall Street were firmer ahead of a news conference by president-elect Donald Trump.
London's FTSE 100 was catapulted to 7,312.08 points, extending a record-breaking run for the benchmark index that began just ahead of the New Year.
The FTSE 100's perform "could today prove its best ever winning streak, fuelled by fresh sterling weakness" and the strong performance of telecoms, mining and food retailers, said Mike van Dulken at Accendo Markets.
"Markets are on tenterhooks ahead of a Trump press conference, especially after claims about his links to Russia and antics behind closed doors," the expert said.
Hours before Trump was due to face the media for the first time since his election win, the president-elect furiously denied explosive claims that Russian intelligence has gathered compromising personal and professional information on him.
Trump called it more evidence of a political witch hunt to delegitimize his November victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, with nine days to go before the 70-year-old billionaire takes office.
- Can Trump deliver? -
Analysts said initial excitement about Trump's plans could turn to scepticism about whether he can actually deliver.
"Markets have been buoyed in recent months by the prospect of growth friendly stimulus measures promised by Trump during the election campaign including tax cuts and fiscal stimulus," said Craig Erlam at Oanda.
"With markets having priced in so much already from the Trump administration despite there being a serious lack of detail on the matter, and having overlooked the risk factors, there may well be potential for Trump to fail to live up to expectations in today's press conference."
The FTSE's strength was fuelled by the weak pound -- which has struck multi-year lows and languished since Britain's EU exit vote on June 23 -- as it boosts share prices of multi-nationals as they profit from favourable exchange rates.
Elsewhere, eurozone stocks pushed higher amid hopes of more stimulative US monetary policy.
"The incredible bullish sentiment seems to be borne out of a concoction of a weak pound, loose monetary policy, rising commodity prices and expectations of increased US fiscal stimulus," said Joshua Mahony, analyst at traders IG.
Asian markets rose, with commodities-linked firms boosted by China's strong inflation reading.
China on Tuesday said factory-gate prices surged last month at their fastest pace in more than five years, leading to hopes the country could export much-needed inflation around the world and help kickstart global growth.
The news helped ramp up prices in key commodities such as iron ore, copper and aluminium, which in turn provided support to producers.
In London, Anglo American won 1.7 percent and Antofagasta gained 0.9 percent in value.
The British capital's top gainer was supermarket chain Sainsbury's. Shares jumped 4.0 percent after it posted rising sales over the key Christmas period.
Oil prices were only marginally higher after two days of sharp losses, hit by doubts about the effectiveness of OPEC's planned output cuts.
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.5 percent at 7,311,93 points
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.7 percent at 11,661.70
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 4,908.36
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,319.64
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 19,925.76
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 19,364.67 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,136.75 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.8 percent at 22,935.35 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0476 from $1.0521
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2101 from $1.2127
Dollar/yen: UP at 116.68 yen from 116.36 yen
Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 60 cents at $51.42 per barrel
Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 64 cents at $54.28
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