The UK market is higher in afternoon trading Wednesday, after Germany's Federal Constitutional Court allowed the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism, or ESM, with some conditions.
The Federal Constitutional Court said Germany must cap its bailout fund share at 190 billion euros. Also, both houses of the Parliament must be informed of decisions on the ESM in future.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso proposed a single supervisory mechanism for the euro area banks. The new mechanism will give ultimate supervisory responsibility related to financial stability of all banks in the euro area to the European Central Bank.
Sentiment was also influenced by the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meet beginning today, which is expected to throw more light on the much anticipated third round of quantitative easing.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is climbing 0.83 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.04 percent.
The FTSE 100 index is rising 0.04 percent.
Kingfisher is gaining 1.7 percent after reporting first-half results.
Barclays is gaining 1.6 percent and Lloyds Banking is climbing 3.4 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland is advancing 3.3 percent.
Miners are notably higher. BHP Billiton is advancing 1.2 percent and Rio Tinto is climbing 1.5 percent.
BT Group is gaining 2.9 percent.
Barratt Developments is declining 6.4 percent. The firm reported annual profit, but did not announce a dividend, stating it plans to resume dividend next year.
Nomura cut Vodafone to "Neutral" from "Buy." The stock is falling 0.7 percent.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is advancing 0.78 percent and the French CAC 40 is rising 0.54 percent. Switzerland's SMI is losing 0.04 percent.
On the economic front, in the U.K., the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell by 15,000 in August from the prior month to 1.57 million, the Office for National Statistics said. The claimant count rate remained unchanged at 4.8 percent, slightly below the 4.9 percent forecast by economists.
Across Asia/Pacific, Australia's All Ordinaries added 0.80 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.1 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.7 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages ended the day in positive territory.
In the commodity space, crude for October delivery is adding $0.85 to $98.02 per barrel and December gold is gaining $11.6 to $1746.5 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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