FRANKFURT: Stocks across Europe finished higher Wednesday as investors took on risk after five straight days of losses and ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy decision.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.97% pushed up 1% to 323.63, led by the financial SXFR, +0.55% and basic materials SXPR, +3.65% sectors, which have been hurt in recent sessions.
Among miners, Glencore PLC GLEN, +6.52% GLCNF, +6.63% soared 6.5% and Imersys SA NK, +1.43% picked up 1.4%.
The pan-European benchmark on Tuesday fell 1.9% and marked the longest string of losses since a seven-session run in early February.
Equities have suffered as investors sought safety in assets such as global government bonds, the Japanese yen USDJPY, -1.14% and gold GCQ6, +1.09%
The flight to bonds pushed the yield on Germany’s 10-year bund TMBMKDE-10Y, +0.00% on Tuesday into negative territory for the first time ever. On Wednesday, the yield was up 1 basis point at 0.004%.
Record-low bond yields have in turn stoked worries about profitability in the banking sector, sending bank shares lower. But lenders on Wednesday found some relief, with Deutsche Bank AG DBK, +1.48% closing up 1% and Banco Popular Español SA POP, +5.71% tacking on 5.7%. Italy’s Mediobanca SpA MB, +2.77% rose 2.8%
The search for safety has been driven in part by a series of opinion polls showing support for a “Brexit” in the June 23 referendum on whether the U.K. should leave the European Union.
“Although it is by no means inevitable that the U.K. will vote to leave the EU next week, time is running out for the Remain campaign,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index, in a note.
“For once, it seems unlikely that even the world’s most important central bank, the Federal Reserve, can offer soothing words to traders,” she said.
The Fed’s policy announcement is due at 7 p.m. London time, or 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will hold a press conference at 7:30 p.m. London time. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady, but the market will watch for clues about the timing of future rate moves.
Movers: Shares of French industrial group Schneider Electric SE SU, +2.14% rose 2.1% after talks with engineering software designer Aveva Group PLC AVV, -12.05% were terminated for a second time. Aveva shares on the FTSE 250 index AVV, -12.05% finished down 12.1%.
Inditex SA ITX, +5.50% the parent company of apparel retailer Zara, jumped 5.5% after the company posted a 6% rise in first-quarter net profit on higher sales.
Indexes: Germany’s DAX 30 DAX, +0.92% picked up 0.9% at 9,606.71, and France’s CAC 40 PX1, +1.00% climbed 1% to 4,171.58.
Italy’s FTSE MIB FTSEMIB, +1.49% bounced up 1.5% to 16,513.97, and Spain’s IBEX 35 IBEX, +1.53% picked up 1.5% to 8,250.80.
The U.K’s FTSE 100 UKX, +0.73% closed up 0.7% at 5,966.80 after closing Tuesday at its lowest since late February.
The euro EURUSD, +0.0533% was up 0.1% at $1.1222.
Exports from the eurozone to the rest of the world jumped in April, pushing its trade surplus wider and indicating that the currency area’s modest recovery remained on track as the second quarter got under way.
