Investing.com – European stocks make a comeback in early trading on Tuesday as investors shrugged off another weak bound of activity in China’s manufacturing sector.
Despite starting the session in negative territory, European stocks moved higher with the Dax rising 1.25% at 9:00AM GMT or 4:00AM ET, while the CAC 40advanced 0.38%, the FTSE gaining 0.49% and the European benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 rising 0.87%.
Asian stocks were mostly higher as investors digested the news that China’s central bank had cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) in order to enhance liquidity in the financial system and despite the news that the activity in the manufacturing sector of the world’s second largest economy had contracted for the seventh consecutive month.
The euro zone’s own manufacturing PMI data for February came in slightly higher than expected tallying 50.5, compared to the prior read of 50.2 which was expected to remain steady.
Meanwhile, the German labor market showed some strength with unemployment claims dropping by 10,000, although the jobless rate in the motor of the euro zone economy remained unchanged at 6.2%.
Crude prices helped bolster investor sentiment in stocks as thanks to reports of decreasing production and strong oil demand. Crude oil futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $0.30, or 0.89%, to trade at $34.05 a barrel, while Brent oil advanced $0.16 or 0.44% to $36.73.
On the business front, shares in Barclays (L:BARC) were slammed, down more than 9%, after the British bank reported an 8% decrease in pre-tax profit for 2015.
Fresnillo (L:FRES) also gave up roughly 1% after reporting its own drop in 2005 net profit to $70.5 million, from the prior year’s $108.5 million.
Glencore (L:GLEN) was also hit by its own earnings report, trading down close to 2%. The miner tallied a 32% decline in full-year core earnings as the drop in commodity prices took its toll.
In positive news, London Stock Exchange Group (L:LSE) surged more than 7% on news that the Intercontinental Exchange is considering to make an offer for the exchange operator.