Investing.com - European markets opened higher on Tuesday, as investors awaited a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi due later in the day, as well as a new batch of corporate earnings reports.
The EURO STOXX 50 added 0.25%, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.34%, while Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.27% by 03:35 a.m. ET (07:35 GMT).
Later Tuesday, Draghi was set to speak at the ECB Forum on Banking Supervision, in Frankfurt.
Market participants were also monitoring U.S. President Donald Trump's Asian tour. Trump arrived in South Korea on Tuesday amid concerns Washington may resort to military action against its Northern neighbour.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) climbed 0.55% and 0.56%, while Germany's Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) and Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) rallied 1.18% and 1.33%.
French bank Credit Agricole (PA:CAGR) saw shares following news it agreed to acquire wealth-management specialist Banca Leonardo SpA for an undisclosed anount.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) rose 0.28% and 0.31% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) jumped 1.01% and 1.03%.
Elsewhere, Deutsche Telekom AG Na (DE:DTEGn) edged up 0.15%, rebounding from the previous session's sharp losses following news on Saturday that the majority owner of Sprint Corp said merger talks with T-Mobile US had ended.
On the downside, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (DE:BMWG) plummeted 2.22% even as the German carmaker raised its 2017 profit forecasts, helped by predictions of record car sales. However, the group expects revenue growth from those deliveries to slide.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 inched up 0.05%, boosted by Irish industrial group DCC plc (LON:DCC), whose shares surged 2.13% after it made its first acquisition in the U.S. energy market by buying a unit of NGL Energy Partners for $200 million.
Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) added to gains, with shares up 2.20% after the tobacco company reported an increase in annual revenues, helped by favorable currency movements.
Mining stocks were also broadly higher on the commodity-heavy index. Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) rose 0.36% and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) advanced 0.87%, while BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) climbed 0.98%.
In the financial sector, stocks were mostly on the upside. Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) rose 0.28% and 0.31% respectively, while the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) gained 0.50%. Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) held steady, with shares dipping only 0.01%.
Meanwhile, Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) was one of the worst performers on the index, with shares down 4.46% although the company reported a 15% increase in revenue for its most recent financial year.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady to higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.20% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.08% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.11% rise.