European stocks open higher on oil rebound

European stocks open higher on oil rebound

European stocks opened higher on Thursday, as rising oil prices lent support to the energy sector and as investors focused on a fresh batch of corporate earnings reports.

During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.36%, France’s CAC 40 inched 0.05% higher, while Germany’s DAX 30 edged up 0.14%.

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, as a wildfire in Northern Alberta, Canada disrupted the country’s oil production.

Energy stocks were broadly higher, as French oil and gas major Total SA gained 0.81% and Italy’s ENI  SpA surged 2.16%, while Norwegian rival Statoil ASA added 0.29%.

Financial stocks added to gains, as French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale climbed 0.41% and 0.88%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank  edged up 0.07%.

Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit gained 0.37% and 2.71% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA  and Banco Santander  rallied 0.91% and 1.77%.

In earnings news, Ferrovial reported a 7.4% slip in core profit from a year ago, but shares in the Spanish infrastructure company still edged up 0.14%.

Elsewhere, Bayer AG climbed 0.51% after saying that its Regorafenib cancer treatment drug helped extend the lives of liver cancer sufferers according to the results of a Phase III clinical trial.

In London, FTSE 100 rose 0.21%, led by BT Group, whose shares soared 2.98% after the holding company reported a 6% rise in full-year revenue.

Mining stocks were also broadly higher in the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Rio Tinto  climbed 0.57% and Anglo American jumped 1.10%, while Glencore  and Bhp Billiton rallied 1.74% and 1.84% respectively.

Financial stocks added to gains, with the Royal Bank of Scotland  inching up 0.01% and Barclays  adding 0.28%, while Lloyds Banking rose 0.32% and HSBC Holdings  advanced 0.49%.

Meanwhile, Morrison Supermarkets reported a 0.7% increase in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to May 1, sending shares up 0.32%.

On the downside, The Sage Group plummeted 2.65% after the software company posted a 15.6% year-on-year drop in pretax profit for the half year ending March 31.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.36% gain, S&P 500 futures  S&P 500

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