By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks rose Tuesday, with
shares of BNP Paribas SA climbing in the wake of the French bank's
nearly $9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities.
Opening the second half of the year, the Stoxx Europe 600 picked
up 0.4% to 343.06.
Among the best price performers was BNP , higher by 3.7% in
Paris trade after pleading guilty to two felony counts on Monday.
The plea was part of a $8.8 billion deal to settle an investigation
into alleged violations of U.S. sanctions against Sudan and other
countries. The bank is also banned for a year from conducting
certain U.S. dollar transactions.
BNP shares should "catch up, following the significant
underperformance over the past four months," in part as the bank
will be able to absorb the negative impact from the fine, said J.P.
Morgan Cazenove analysts in a note Tuesday.
France's CAC 40 equity index rose 0.4% to 4,438.81.
Meanwhile, shares of Ocado Group PLC dropped 4.5%. The British
online grocery market swung to a pretax profit on a 16% rise in
sales during the first half of the year, but also noted the rate of
growth in the online grocery market is "currently impacted by
subdued and cautious consumer spending."
Mining stocks were among advancers after two separate reports on
manufacturing in China -- a key buyer of natural resources --
suggest a rebound. Diversified miner BHP Billiton (BHP) moved up
2%, Anglo American PLC was up 1.6% and Rio Tinto PLC advanced
2.6%.
But Russian markets fell after Ukraine's president called an end
to a cease-fire with pro-Russia rebels. The MICEX stock index
dipped 0.9% in morning trade.
Investors also received a final June report on the manufacturing
sector in the euro zone, with data-firm Markit reporting a
Purchasing Manufacturers' Index reading of 51.8, lower than a
preliminary reading of 51.9.
The pound (GBPUSD) , meanwhile, topped the $1.71 level after
Markit's June manufacturing PMI reading for the U.K. came in at
57.5, outpacing expectations for a 56.5 reading.
Among country indexes, U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.4% to 6,772.89
and Germany's DAX 30 picked up 0.2% to 9,849.45.
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