BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday, riding on some upbeat earnings results, monetary easing hopes and renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade negotiations.
In Germany, Continental AG shares rallied more than 6.5% after the company's second-quarter results fell in line with expectations despite a downturn in the market environment. Daimler gained 4.3% after China's BAIC bought a five percent stake in the company, while BMW and Volkswagen both moved up by about 3.8%.
BASF added nearly 4% and Infineon gained 3.7%. Thyssenkrupp, Deutsche Bank, Covestro, Deutsche Post, Bayer, Siemens and Merck also rose sharply.
In the French market, ArcelorMittal gained nearly 4.5%, Societe Generale moved up 3.1%, Peugeot rallied 3.7% and Renault gained 2.5%.
Safran, Accor, BNP Paribas, Unibail Rodamco, STMicroElectronics, Credit Agricole, Technip and Michelin gained 1.8 to 2.5%.
Shares of automotive supplier Faurecia rose sharply after the company maintained first-half profitability despite a China-led decline in auto production and the loss of seating contracts.
In the U.K. market, NMC Health, Smurfit Kappa, DS Smith, Johnson Matthey, Carnival and Barclays gained 2 to 4%. Ashtead Group, Vodafone Group, Standard Life, Mondi, Tui, BT Group and Standard Chartered were among the other prominent gainers in the FTSE 100 index.
Whitbread, Just Eat, Auto Trader Group, Tesco, J Sainsbury and Right Move declined sharply.
Swiss bank UBS' shares rose after the lender reported a a net profit of $1.39 billion for the second quarter, the highest second-quarter net profit in nine years.
With stocks from most of the sectors moving up north, the pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.98% up. Among the other major indices in Europe, Germany's DAX climbed up 1.64% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.92%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.56%. Switzerland's SMI advanced 0.43%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey ended with sharp to moderate gains.
Czech Republic and Denmark edged up marginally, while Iceland, Poland and Ukraine ended weak.
The European Central Bank is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to cut rates by 10 basis points.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is slated to announce its rate decision. Many expect the Fed to cut rate by at least 25 basis points.
In the UK, Boris Johnson has won the UK leadership race. There are concerns in a section of the market that Johnson could pull the country out of EU on October 31 without a deal in place to satisfy anti-EU members of the party.
Preliminary data from the European Commission showed Eurozone's consumer confidence improved more-than-expected in July, with the flash index climbing to -6.6 from June's -7.2. Economists had forecast a score of -7.1. In May, the reading was -6.5.
The consumer confidence index for the EU edged by a point to -5.9 in July. Both indicators are above their respective long-term averages of -10.7 and -10, the report said.
Euro area banks unexpectedly tightened the conditions business firms should meet to get loans during the second quarter, due to an uncertain economic outlook, results of a quarterly survey by the European Central Bank showed.
By contrast, banks had expected credit standards to ease in the second quarter during the previous survey.
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