European stocks rose to a two-year high as reports reassured investors that the global economic recovery is intact. Asian stocks and U.S. stock-index futures also advanced. ASML Holding NV advanced 6.2 percent after the company raised its forecast for bookings in the fourth quarter. BG Group Plc rose to the highest in 2 1/2 years after saying it will get about 600 million barrels of oil from initial operations at Brazil’s Tupi and Guara fields. Volkswagen AG led carmakers lower as China said it may end tax incentives for buying passenger cars next year. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.3 percent to 275.74 as of 10:18 a.m. in London, heading for the highest close since September 2008. The measure of European shares has advanced 8.6 percent this year as corporate profits improved and the Federal Reserve unveiled a $600 billion bond-purchase program to assist the U.S. recovery. “Equities are going to be seen as an attractive focus,” Chris Tinker, the founder of London-based Libra Investment Services Ltd., said on Bloomberg Television’s “Countdown” with Maryam Nemazee. Improving free-cash flow and earnings will be “the fundamental support that will drive the equity market outlook. We’ll see a more stable environment,” into next year. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures expiring this month rose 0.3 percent. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rallied 0.8 percent. Japan’s economy grew more than the government initially estimated in the third quarter and Australian employers last month added more than double the number of workers economists had forecast. A report today may show U.S. initial jobless claims declined. Financial Companies Financial companies were the second-best performers today among the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s 10 industry groups. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. increased 3.7 percent to 417 yen. In Sydney, Westpac Banking Corp. gained 2.4 percent to A$22.29. Banks posted the biggest gain yesterday in the S&P 500 among 24 industries, rallying 3.4 percent. ASML Holding NV rallied 6.2 percent to 27.93 euros after the company raised its forecast for bookings in the fourth quarter. The chipmaker now expects bookings to be more than 2 billion euros. BG Group advanced 2.5 percent to 1,319.5 pence, heading for the highest closing level since May 2008. The oil and gas producer said it expects “very low” unit technical costs for the initial phase of development of the Tupi and Guara fields in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. The company also said it will get about 600 million barrels from initial operations. Havas, Hochtief Havas SA, owner of the Euro RSCG Worldwide advertising agency, and ITV Plc advanced after Nomura Holdings Inc. upgraded its recommendation on the shares to “buy” from “neutral.” Havas gained 3.2 percent to 3.53 euros. ITV rose 1.4 percent to 73.8 pence. Hochtief AG climbed 1.9 percent to 64.58 euros. The company’s potential new investor Qatar Holding LLC plans to increase its stake above the announced 9.1 percent by buying more shares at the stock exchange, Financial Times Deutschland reported today, without saying where it got the information. Qatar, which initially plans to buy new issued shares, aims to increase its influence in the German builder further as Spanish competitor Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA is attempting a hostile takeover of Hochtief, the newspaper said. Club Med Club Mediterranee SA gained 3.6 percent to 14.25 euros as the French operator of 80 resorts worldwide said its full-year loss narrowed to 14 million euros ($18.6 million) from 53 million euros a year earlier. Volkswagen fell 4.6 percent to 123.25 euros, while Porsche SE dropped 1.8 percent to 63.51 euros. A gauge of automakers on the Stoxx 600 lost as much as 2.8 percent, the biggest slide of all 19 industry groups. China may end tax incentives for buying passenger cars next year, Xiong Chuanlin, vice secretary-general of the China Automobile Industry Association, said at a briefing in Beijing today. Standard Chartered Plc, the U.K. bank that gets more than three quarters of earnings from Asia, declined 3.9 percent to 1,805 pence. Standard Chartered’s second-half “income levels” will be “broadly flat” from the previous six months, the company said in a statement today. Net interest income has fallen “fractionally” this year from 2009 across the company, it said. To contact the reporter on this story: Adam Haigh in London at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Merritt at dmerritt1@bloomberg.net.

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