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By Riva Gold 

Global stock markets edged higher Tuesday, bolstered by rebounding oil prices and rising European financial stocks.

Futures pointed to a 0.3% opening gain for the S&P 500 as Brent crude rose 1.4% to $44.25 a barrel. Changes in futures don't necessarily reflect market moves after the opening bell.

Sentiment was lifted as Brent crude oil rose 1.4% to $44.25 a barrel, after posting its largest one-day dollar decline since February on Monday.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.7% halfway though the session. Shares in Credit Suisse Group rose over 5% after the lender announced its first-quarter results, spurring broader gains in the region's banking sector.

Stocks in Europe and the U.S. have traded within a narrow range in recent weeks, as investors struggle to reconcile a recent rebound in equity prices with a lackluster earnings season and concerns about the health of the global economy.

"The market is having a real hard time moving higher," said David Lafferty, chief market strategist at Natixis Global Asset Management. "I see OK earnings and OK valuations, but nothing in a world of uncertainty that's making investors want to pay up for stocks," he said.

Following a steep rebound, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 have both moved less than half a percentage point this month.

"We don't expect particularly high returns," said Peter Elston, chief investment officer at Seneca Investment Managers. But government bonds are expensive, he said, leaving few alternatives.

Earlier, the Japanese market rose after the country's finance minister said it was "natural" for the government to intervene should the yen continue to rise in a one-sided way. The dollar was last up 0.7% against the yen at Yen109.1640, offering some respite for investors as a stronger yen puts pressure on Japan's exporters.

Stocks in Hong Kong and Shanghai were little changed after data showed China's inflation rate was steady for a third straight month, though producer prices beat expectations. China reports retail sales figures later this week.

"China's been an enormous source of disinflation for a very long time," said David Stubbs, global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. "Anything showing China's domestic outlook is firmer than we thought will feed into markets feeling the risks are not that great," he said.

Australian equities rose for a fourth straight session, as the country's four biggest banks added almost 22 points to the S&P/ ASX 200. The gains outweighed losses in commodity-sensitive stocks as iron-ore prices continued to fall.

Later Tuesday, investors will parse the U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, following Friday's employment report. The data will offer more details on the U.S. labor market, closely watched by Federal Reserve officials as they contemplate the course for interest rates.

Write to Riva Gold at riva.gold@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2016 08:13 ET (12:13 GMT)

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