London’s commodities-heavy FTSE 100 index forged higher as copper struck a five-month peak on keen demand and the flagging dollar.
Shares in resources giant Anglo American rose 6% and Antofagasta added more than 7%, while BHP Billiton picked up 4%.
“Equities are nicely higher,” noted Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo, saying strong company results from the US and a higher oil price added to positive sentiment.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt and Paris stocks garnered gains on increasing confidence over Greece, traders said.
Greece broke a three-year dry spell with a successful return to the debt markets yesterday, a symbolic victory for the beleaguered eurozone nation.
It even managed to borrow at cheaper rates than in 2014, the last time it tapped the international bond market, HSBC, lead manager for the operation, told AFP.
The Greek treasury sold €3bn ($3.5bn) worth of five-year bonds at a rate of 4.625%, said Frederic Gabizon, head of European public sector debt at HSBC.
“Eurozone confidence is rising as the Greeks return to the debt market,” said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.
“There is now stronger market appetite for Greek risk,” Barclays analyst Antonio Garcia Pascual said in a note to clients.
German shares received a further boost from an Ifo think-tank report saying that confidence among German business leaders hit a “euphoric” all-time high in July.
London’s FTSE 100 closed 0.8% up at 7,434.82 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 ended 0.5% up at 12,264.31 points, Paris’ CAC 40 was 0.7% up at 5,161.08 points and the EURO STOXX 50 ended the day 0.6% up at 3,473.54 points.
Wall Street also showed healthy gains approaching midday in New York as strong earnings, notably from Caterpillar and McDonald’s, boosted the Dow index.
In foreign exchange yesterday, the euro was at its highest level since 2015 against the dollar.
Oil prices rose more than a dollar after global crude producers, meeting in Russia on Monday, called for stricter adherence to a agreement to cut output.
The Saudi-led Opec, along with Russia and other large producers, met in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg to assess the results of their November agreement to cut output in the hope of boosting prices.
But Jameel Ahmad, a market analyst at FXTM, wondered whether hope for further oil output cuts was really justified.
“While the Oil markets are attempting to maintain gains following the latest Opec meeting, I remain unconvinced whether the outcome to the gathering actually means anything for the price of oil in the long run,” he said.
