European Stocks Broadly Highers as US Govt Reopens After Shutdown

By Investors Hub

European stocks were broadly higher on Tuesday as U.S. Senators voted to move forward on a deal to end federal government shutdown and the Bank of Japan kept its massive monetary stimulus program unchanged, helping ease worries that it might shift toward a tighter policy.

The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.3 percent at 403.34 in late opening deals after rising 0.3 percent on Monday to log a fresh two-year high.

The German DAX was up 0.8 percent to hover near a record high reached earlier in the day, while France’s CAC 40 index was rising 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was moving up 0.3 percent.

German software and service provider SAP rallied 1.5 percent after it announced more than 2 billion euros spend in France over the next five years.

Logitech international shares soared 5.5 percent. The Swiss provider of personal computer and mobile accessories lifted its full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected sales for its fiscal third quarter.

EasyJet jumped almost 6 percent in London. The budget airline posted improved revenues and passenger numbers for the three months to December as a result of the bankruptcies of Monarch, Air Berlin and Alitalia.

British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines rallied 2.5 percent.

Sky Plc jumped 2.6 percent after the competition regulator blocked Rupert Murdoch’s £11.7 billion bid to take full control of the company, saying the planned takeover is not in the public interest.

Carrefour shares jumped 6.5 percent after the French retailer announced a new partnership with Chinese groups Tencent and Yonghui.