Europe markets advance; Shell energises London

Europe’s stock markets took to higher ground yesterday, with London fuelled by Royal Dutch Shell, dealers said. Shell rallied after the energy giant pledged to resume all-cash dividends to shareholders as profitability improves thanks to higher oil prices and deep cost-cutting.Shares in the Anglo-Dutch titan soared 4.4% as investors welcomed the news, which also dragged rival BP 1.1% higher.Royal Dutch Shell “allowed the FTSE to ignore issues in both its mining and banking sectors,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.“This growth could not come at a better time for the FTSE, which jumped more than half a per cent largely on the strength of Shell’s gains and the subsequent rise from BP,” he added.London’s financial sector was somewhat boosted after the Bank of England declared that Britain’s seven largest banks had passed its latest stress tests.All seven — Barclays, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, Nationwide, Santander and Standard Chartered — passed its assessments for the first time since the central band began testing in 2014, and are “resilient” to recession.But Barclays and RBS fared the worst, struggling in the central bank’s severe economic stress scenario.RBS shares nevertheless gained nearly 0.4% while Barclays stumbled 0.6% lower.Elsewhere, Asian traders shifted cautiously yesterday with Chinese stocks swinging back and forth, while concerns grew about the future of the much-vaunted US tax reforms.After months of gains for equities worldwide, investors are taking a step back on unease that some valuations may be too high, though bitcoin continued its surge to new records and was on course to break the $10,000 mark.Shanghai ended a volatile day up 0.3%, having lost more than 3% since Wednesday, with mainland dealers spooked by Beijing’s crackdown on risky dealing.A warning from Chinese authorities last week about the sharp rise in one of the country’s best-performing stocks added to worries.Analysts have also noted a lack of intervention by state-backed firms to support key issues, indicating a willingness to see prices fall to cool the market.Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, also pointed out that several data reports had undershot expectations recently, raising worries about the Chinese economy.“That means the first two weeks of December, when we get the next monthly update on the Chinese economy, are going to be very important,” he said.Wall Street stocks rose back into record territory early yesterday ahead of data on US consumer confidence and a Senate confirmation hearing for Federal Reserve nominee Jerome Powell.And investors are closely eyeing senators who are expected to vote on Donald Trump’s tax-cut plans, amid fears his Republican party might not be able to muster enough votes to push it through.While the passage of the bill would probably fire up global markets, analysts are concerned its failure could lead to a correction.Expectations that Trump would push through his market-friendly measures of cutting taxes, ramping up infrastructure spending and cutting red tape have helped fuel a global rally.In London, the FTSE 100 closed up 0.8% at 7,446.21 points; Frankfurt — DAX 30 rose 0.4% at 13,049.64 points and Paris — CAC 40 ended up 0.6% at 5,392.84 points yesterday.