Investing.com - European stocks opened higher on Wednesday, as investors focuses on a highly-anticipated meeting of major oil producers scheduled later in the day.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 1.11%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 1.03%, while Germany’s DAX 30 jumped 0.99%.
Markets were jittery following reports on Tuesday that differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran remained too wide to achieve a production freeze deal this week.
However, energy-related stocks were broadly higher, as French oil and gas major Total SA (PA:TOTF) jumped 0.91% and Italy’s ENI (MI:ENI) advanced 0.73%, while Norwegian rival Statoil (OL:STL) also gained 0.73%.
Global stocks were also supported as market sentiment remained positive after analysts considered that Hillary Clinton did better than her rival Donald Trump during Monday night’s Presidential debate.
Markets tend to see Clinton as a status quo candidate, while few are sure what a Trump presidency might mean for international trade deals or the U.S. economy.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) climbed 0.70% and 1.24%, while Germany’s Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) rallied 0.89% and 2.19%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) advanced 0.92% and 1.08% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) jumped 0.81% and 0.85%.
Elsewhere, shares in Allianz (DE:ALVG) surged 1.13% following reports the German insurer is exploring options for the partial or total sale of regional private bank Oldenburgische Landesbank AG.
In London, FTSE 100 advanced 0.70%, led bu Tui AG NA (LON:TUIT), whose shares soared 2.95% after the travel company said it is confident of delivering between 12% and 13% growth in underlying earnings before interest for the twelve months ending 30 September 2016.
Smiths Group (LON:SMIN) added to gains, with shares rallying 2.88% after the group said pretax profit climbed 6.5% in the year to the end of July.
Mining stocks were also higher in the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) climbed 0.54% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) jumped 1.58%, while Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and Anglo American (LON:AAL) surged 1.73% and 1.92% respectively.
In the financial sectort, stocks were mostly on the upside, as Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) gained 0.62% and Barclays (LON:BARC) climbed 0.84%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) rallied 1.37%. HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) underperformed however, with shares shedding 0.22%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.16% gain, S&P 500 futures showed a 0.17% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.18% increase.