Investing.com - European stocks opened sharply higher on Wednesday, as concerns over volatility in Asian continued to ease and oil prices regained some ground.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 1.11%, France’s CAC 40 climbed 1.28%, while Germany’s DAX 30 jumped 1.20%.
Sentiment improved after the People's Bank of China set the mid-point for the yuan at 6.5630 to the dollar, unchanged from firm fixes on the previous two days.
The fixing came as the central bank put a squeeze on offshore sellers of the currency by making it prohibitively expensive to speculate against the yuan in offshore markets, easing fears of a sustained depreciation.
In addition, oil prices strengthened and were hovering at $31.02 a barrel in European morning trade, after dropping below $30 a barrel on Tuesday.
French oil and gas major Total SA (PA:TOTF) surged 2.63%, while Italy’s ENI (MI:ENI) rallied 1.34% and Norway’s Statoil ASA (OL:STL) advanced 0.86%.
Financial stocks were also broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) jumped 1.21% and 1.86%, while Germany’s Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) advanced 0.93% and 1.19%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Unicredit (MI:CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) surged 1.29% and 1.97% respectively, while Spanish banks BBVA (MC:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MC:SAN) climbed 0.81% and 0.87%.
Elsewhere, Sodexo (PA:EXHO) shares were up 1.19% after the French food services and facilities management group posted first quarter revenue growth of 4.7% and confirmed its full-year targets.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 advanced 0.92%, helped by sharp gains in the mining sector.
Shares in Bhp Billiton (L:BLT) climbed 0.78% and Rio Tinto (L:RIO) jumped 1.94%, while Anglo American (L:AAL) and Glencore (L:GLEN) surged 2.39% and 2.71% respectively.
J Sainsbury PLC (L:SBRY) added to gains, with shares adding 0.16% after the supermarket chain said like-for like sales for the 15 weeks to January 9 declined by 0.4% and said second-half sales in 2016 will be better than the first half.
Meanwhile, financial stocks were mixed. Barclays (L:BARC) gained 0.54% and HSBC Holdings (L:HSBA) advanced 0.68%, while the Royal Bank of Scotland (L:RBS) slipped 0.11% and Lloyds Banking (L:LLOY) dropped 0.87%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.69% increase, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.73% gain, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.75% climb.