Investing.com - European markets opened higher on Wednesday, as hawkish comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen boosted market sentiment.
The EURO STOXX 50 climbed 0.66%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.26%, while Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.48% by 03:25 a.m. ET (07:25 GMT).
In a speech on Tuesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that the Federal Reserve needs to continue gradual interest rate hikes despite uncertainty about the path of inflation.
It would be "would be imprudent to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation is back to 2%," she said.
Meanwhile, investors began to accept the fact that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be facing months of coalition talks to try to form a stable government.
However, political risk in Spain still, with the Catalan government planning to hold a referendum on whether to break away from Spain on Sunday, despite opposition from Spanish authorities.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) gained 0.45% and 0.29%, while Germany's Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) jumped 1.17% and 1.24%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) advanced 0.29% and 0.63% respectively, while Banco Santander (MC:SAN) slipped 0.28% and BBVA (MC:BBVA) inched up 0.07% in Spain.
Elsewhere, Germany's Siemens AG (DE:SIEGn) rallied 1.45% and France's Alstom (PA:ALSO) SA soared 7.42% after the two companies announced late Tuesday that they agreed to merge their rail operations, in a deal that would create a European groupe capable of competing with China’s state-backed operator CRRC.
Fortum Oyj (HE:FORTUM) added to gains, with shares up 0.85% after the Finnish power utility company announced plans to launch an €8.05 billion takeover bid for Uniper, the power stations operator and energy trading business partly-owned by German utility E.ON.
In London, FTSE 100 gained 0.44%, as UK lenders tracked their European counterparts higher.
Barclays (LON:BARC) climbed 0.77% and Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) advanced 1.09%, while HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) rallied 1.43% and 1.60% respectively.
Mining stocks were mixed on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) advanced 0.98% and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) jumped 1.84%, while Fresnillo (LON:FRES) dropped 0.56% and Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) tumbled 1.14%.
Meanwhile, Mediclinic International PLC (LON:MDCM) saw shares slide 0.93%, still affected by worries over a slowdown in its United Arab Emirates business.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a moderately higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.08% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.17% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.25% increase.