Oil Shares, ARM Drive Gains In European Markets
European stocks pushed higher Tuesday, getting a lift from oil stocks and a handful of banks, but Publicis Groupe SA was among decliners following a sales warning from the French advertising heavyweight.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 1% to 341.26, erasing Monday's loss of 0.5%.
The oil group was the best performing during the session so far, with shares of France's Total SA climbing 1.9% after Monday's fall of 0.9%. Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.2%, BP PLC tacked on 1.1% and Italy's Eni SpA added 0.9%.
Banks were also higher, although Credit Suisse Group (CS) fell 1.3% after the Zurich-based bank posted a larger-than-expected second-quarter loss stemming from a U.S. legal settlement reached two months ago.
Gainers among banks included heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC), up 1.4% and Banco Santander SA (SAN)
Russian stocks were set for their first win in seven sessions. Russia's blue-chips MICEX Index picked up 1.8% at 1,408.97, with oil firm Rosneft up by 1.3% and state-run airline Aeroflot higher by 2.8%.
The MICEX slid 2.7% on Monday. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday called on European leaders to impose sanctions against the Russian oil, banking and defense industries if the government continued supplying weapons and other support to pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine, according to news reports. Russian separatists have been blamed for downing a Malaysia Airlines passenger flight last week that killed all 298 passengers and crew members.
European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss imposing tougher sanctions against Russia.
Topping gainers on the Stoxx 600 was IG Group Holdings PLC. Shares jumped 7.7% after the spread-betting and derivatives-trading-services provider said full-year profit rose even as it reported a "subdued backdrop" late in the year.
ARM Holdings shares climbed 6.2% after the computer-chip designer said second-quarter profit rose on higher chip shipments and licensing revenue.
A top decliner for the Stoxx 600 was Publicis Group SA . Shares fell 5.1% after Chief Executive Maurice Lévy said the company may not reach its full-year sales-growth target. The company also reported a decline in profit and lower sales growth than expected for the first half of the year. A planned merger with Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) collapsed earlier this year.
In Paris, the CAC 40 index rose 0.9%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index tacked on 0.9%.
Meanwhile, Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.9%, on track for its first win in four sessions. The International Monetary Fund on Monday raised its 2014 growth forecast for German gross domestic product to 1.9%, from a previously expected 1.7%. Medium-term growth, however, could remained constrained, in part, by "the still weak and precarious international environment", said the IMF.
The political crisis between Russia and Ukraine, and the impact of sanctions against Russia, have been a concern for the outlook of German businesses that have trading ties to Russia.