Europe close: Stocks stabilise further
European equities ended the day higher, with periphery issues leading the way, as markets continued to regain their footing on optimism that the ECB will finally be moved to act – at some point.
On Wednesday morning two Belgian dailies had reported remarks by ECB governing council member Luc Coene to the effect that: "If we limit ourselves to buying covered bonds and asset backed securities there is a risk that we would pay too high a price. We can prevent that by also buying corporate bonds," the central banker said, adding, "but there is no concrete proposal for that on the table."
At the closing bell the Dax Xetra was higher by 0.60% to 8,8940.14, Madrid’s Ibex 35 had recovered from earlier weakness to end 0.96% up on the day and the FTSE Mibtel had managed to hold higher by 1.09%.
In related news, and perhaps helping to buoy sentiment, a German government source was cited by Reuters as saying that decisions on economic policy in Europe will be taken in December.
To take note of earlier reports had indicated the European Commission might decide as soon as today on whether France and Italy’s budget proposals adhere to EU rules. That possibility weighed on market sentiment throughout the day.
No significant economic data releases were published on the Continent on Wednesday.
Heineken moves lower after weak sales figures
Swiss engineering group ABB reported better than forecast quarterly earnings of $734m.
Nordea, the largest of Scandinavia’s lenders saw profitability improve to €938m in the third quarter, but that was nevertheless worse than estimated by analysts.
Shares of Heineken fell after reporting weaker than projected quarterly sales.
The largest gains on the DJ Stoxx 600 were to be seen in the following industrial groups: Healthcare (1.87%), Basic Financial services (1.47%) and Insurance (0.91%).
Crude continued to bounce back
The euro/dollar fell 0.45% to 1.2660.
Front month Brent crude futures were up by 0.70% to $86.81 per barrel on the ICE.