Investing.com - European markets opened steady to higher on Tuesday, as concerns over political tensions in German subsided and market sentiment improved.
The EURO STOXX 50 inched 0.01% higher, France’s CAC 40 added 0.10%, while Germany’s DAX 30 was up 0.03% by 03:35 a.m. ET (07:35 GMT).
Political tensions in Germany eased after Social Democrats' agreed on Friday to hold talks with Chancellor Merkel on renewing their outgoing coalition government.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) advanced 0.70% and 0.73%, while Germany's Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) added 0.17%
Societe Generale earlier said it will be closing 15% of its branches and cut up to 900 jobs in France by 2020, in a move to accelerate its transition into digital banking.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) climbed 0.46% and 1.36% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) gained 0.75% and 0.79%.
On the downside, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (DE:BMWG) slid 0.68% following news the Germa automaket plans to invest €200 million in a new ‘BMW Group Battery Cell Competence Centre’ in order to develop its next generation electric vehicle powertrain.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.23%, led by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa), whose shares rallied 1.97%.
However, mining stocks were broadly lower as Anglo American (LON:AAL) tumbled 1.08% and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) tumbled 1.40%, while rival company Glencore (LON:GLEN) plummeted 2.52%.
In the financial sector, stocks were mixed. Shares in the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) climbed 0.42% and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) advanced 0.58%, while Barclays (LON:BARC) slid 0.32% and Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) retreated 0.60%.
Earlier Tuesday, the Bank of England said that for the first time since 2014 none of the banks assessed in its latest stress tests need to raise extra capital.
EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ) was one of the top performers on the index, with shares up 1.65%. The discount airline made headlines on Monday when it revealed that men at the company earn on average 51.7% more than women, which is one of the highest gender pay gaps reported so far in the UK.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a mixed open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.08% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.01% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% dip.