European stocks advance as G7 plan to meet; DAX gains 0.55%

Forex Pros – European stock markets were broadly higher on Thursday, after the Group of Seven nations said they would hold talks on ways to calm global markets amid the deepening Japanese nuclear crisis, while U.S. futures indexes pointed to a higher open on Wall Street.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.73%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.85%, while Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.55%.

Earlier in the day, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said that finance ministers from the G-7 nations planned to hold talks on financial markets and Japan’s economy on Friday.

Meanwhile, shares in the financial sector performed strongly following a successful Spanish bond auction. Spain’s largest lender Banco Santander saw shares jump 1.35%, shares in rival BBVA added 1.1%, while Deutsche Bank shares rose 0.95%.

Shares in Europe’s largest airliner Deutsche Lufthansa gained 1.05% after it reported a 23% jump in 2010 revenue to EUR27.32 billion. Separately, Lufthansa said it ordered 30 Airbus jets valued at more than EUR2.86 billion from European Aeronautic Defence and Space. Shares in EADS added 0.9%. 

Also Thursday, Europe’s largest engineering group Siemens saw shares jump 2.3% after Unicredit recommended buying the stock.

In London, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.65% as shares in raw material companies were boosted amid speculation demand for metals would increase once rebuilding efforts to damaged areas in Japan got underway. 

The world’s largest mining group BHP Billiton saw shares gain 2.05%, Rio Tinto added 1.75%, while shares in copper producer Kazakhmys jumped 2.85%.

Meanwhile, oil driller Heritage Oil saw shares rally 7.2% after the company rejected an informal GBP1.2 billion takeover bid from an unidentified Abu Dhabi-based company.

The outlook for U.S. equity markets, meanwhile, was upbeat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a rise of 0.55%, S&P 500 futures indicated a gain of 0.75%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.47%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on initial jobless claims, consumer price inflation and industrial production. In addition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia was to publish an index of manufacturing activity.

ForexPros.com