By Nina Bains
European stocks pushed higher Tuesday while prices of crude oil,
gold and German government bonds fell on expectations that military
intervention in Syria may be avoided.
European equity markets received a boost and U.S. stock futures
indicated a positive start to trading on Wall Street after Russia's
foreign minister said Moscow was working with Syria to prepare a
concrete plan to place chemical weapons there under international
control.
U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview on NBC that the
proposal, which was first floated late Monday, was a "potentially
positive development" that could help avert U.S. military
action.
The benchmark Stoxx 600 index rallied 1.1%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100
index gained 0.7%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.7% and France's CAC-40
added 1.3%.
"The current theme is the pricing in of lower expectations of a
Syrian conflict," said strategists at Deutsche Bank in a note to
clients. "The situation in Syria remains fluid though."
Crude-oil prices continued to ease off multi-month highs with
ICE Brent down 0.6% at $113.07 a barrel and Nymex crude for October
1% lower at $108.45, while spot gold in Europe retreated 1.1%, to
$1371.50.
Germany's 10-year government bond yield edged up 0.06 percentage
point to 2.015%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Meanwhile, Turkey's ISE National 100 stock index rallied 1.6%.
Data showed Turkey's economy grew more strongly than expected in
the second quarter, expanding by 4.4% on the year.
Miners in Europe surged, along with currencies perceived as
risky bets, such as the Australian dollar, following another strong
set of economic releases from China, the world's second-largest
economy.
Industrial output in China rose 10.4% in August from a year
earlier, exceeding economists' expectations for a 9.9% gain.
Separately, retail sales figures also beat views, rising 13.4% in
August from a year earlier.
The economic readings add to other strong indicators that
suggest the recovery in Asia's largest economy is not only
continuing but gaining momentum.
The Australian dollar climbed to a six-week high of $0.9288
against the U.S. dollar, helped in part by the Chinese data, but
also receiving a boost from business confidence figures. The
National Australia Bank's monthly business confidence index rose to
the highest level in more than two years in August.
In London, Glencore Xstrata PLC shares rallied after the
commodities giant said it expects to deliver at least $2 billion in
synergies in 2014 following its recent $44.6 billion Xstrata
purchase--four times as much as it had initially estimated.
Neste Oil Oyj shares surged over 15% after the refining and
marketing company upgraded its 2013 full-year profit guidance.
Write to Nina Bains at nina.bains@dowjones.com