By Tommy Stubbington
European stocks climbed Tuesday, spurred by signs that the
European Central Bank is still on track to take new steps to tackle
low inflation.
The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.1% in early trade. The benchmark
had added 0.5% on Monday following a mid-session turnaround spurred
by comments from ECB chief Mario Dragh i. Although Mr. Draghi
largely reiterated what he has said before, investors remain highly
sensitive to any suggestion the ECB is moving closer to a program
of quantitative easing.
"Draghi offered little evidence that sovereign QE was imminent,
but the threat of QE has proved quite efficient," said Frederik
Ducrozet, an analyst at Crédit Agricole.
That helped lift some of the gloom after Japan reported a
surprise slide back into recession in the third quarter this year.
Tokyo shares on Tuesday rebounded from Monday's sharp losses, with
the Nikkei index adding 2.2% ahead of an expected announcement by
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that he will now put off a tax
increase.
In Europe, Germany's DAX index was 0.5% higher ahead of the
country's ZEW business climate index.
France's CAC 40 was 0.3% higher, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was
up 0.3%.
In currency markets, the euro strengthened 0.2% against the
dollar to trade at $1.2485. "Clearly a QE program is not yet fully
priced in on the market, which means that the euro will come under
pressure every time further hints in this direction are made," said
Commerzbank currency strategist Thu Lan Nguyen.
The British pound was also a touch higher against the buck.
In commodities, Brent crude oil fell 0.4% to $79.02 a barrel,
while gold was 0.9% higher at $1,193.80 a troy ounce.
Write to Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com