MW: Europe stocks climb as year-end push continues
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in Europe advanced on Tuesday in thin conditions, with the few traders active pushing up the market to new multi-month highs.
Continuing the run which has seen a 2.8% gain over the last four sessions, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 (ST:SXXP 253.89, +0.72, +0.28%) rose 0.3% to 253.91 to put the benchmark on track for a fresh 14-month high.
The Stoxx 600 has climbed roughly 28% this year and moved 63% above the lows of March as the financial system has stabilized and as economies in the U.S. and Europe have shown signs of expansion.
With metals prices advancing, miners including BHP Billiton (UK:BLT 2,019, +49.43, +2.51%) rose, with the world's largest miner rising 2.4%. Xstrata (UK:XTA 1,109, +20.50, +1.88%) , up 2.2%, reached a deal to charge Tokyo Electric Power $85 per metric ton for Australian thermal coal, higher than the $70 to $72 per ton benchmark from April 2009.
Copper also was in the spotlight on concerns over a potential strike in Chile that could affect 5.5% of world supplies.
Other movers included Forth Ports (UK:FPT 1,169, +69.44, +6.31%) , which rose 6.6%, and solar-cell maker Q-Cells (DE:QCE 10.70, +0.55, +5.42%) , which rose 7.7%. Q-Cells' Chief Executive Anton Milner told Handelsblatt that the firm expects to return to profitability next year as world-wide demand rises 40% to 60%.
PV Crystalox Solar (UK:PVCS 60.80, +1.85, +3.13%) rose 3.1%.
Banks, though strong on the year, dipped on Tuesday, with the sector (ST:SX7E 221.70, +0.08, +0.04%) retreating 0.2% and HSBC Holdings (UK:HSBA 715.70, -3.20, -0.45%) (HBC 57.39, -0.03, -0.05%) falling 0.5%.
By region, the German DAX (DX:DAX 6,009, +5.89, +0.10%) rose 0.1% to 6,009.21, holding the 6,000 level for a second day, and the French CAC 40 (FR:PX1 3,958, +11.32, +0.29%) rose 0.3% to 3,958.42.
After a four-day hiatus, the U.K. FTSE 100 (UK:UKX 5,432, +29.25, +0.54%) rose 0.6% to 5,433.27 and the Ireland ISEQ (XX:ISEQ 3,041, +51.98, +1.74%) added 1.8% to 3,041.69.
Anecdotal evidence suggested strong sales numbers in Britain on the Saturday after Christmas, though that may be in part due to shoppers looking to beat a planned increase in the value-added tax to 17.5% from 15% at the start of next year.
According to Synovate, the people out shopping in non-food stores in the U.K. on Dec. 26 rose 4.9% on a comparable basis, with Central London shopping numbers up 5.4%.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14 points. Data on U.S. house prices from October and December consumer confidence are due later on Tuesday.
