The European markets are mixed in afternoon trading Wednesday, after additional stimulus announcement from Japan, amid lingering worries about the debt crisis. The Asian markets ended in positive territory and the U.S. index futures are higher.
The Bank of Japan embarked on a powerful monetary easing by expanding the total size of the asset purchase program by about 10 trillion yen and extending the asset purchase deadline by six months.
The minutes of the Bank of England's policy meeting held on September 5 and 6 showed that policymakers unanimously decided to maintain quantitative easing at 375 billion pounds and the interest rate unchanged at 0.50 percent.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.16 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is rising 0.13 percent.
The German DAX is losing 0.05 percent and the French CAC 40 is falling 0.14 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is advancing 0.07 percent and Switzerland's SMI is gaining 0.17 percent.
In Frankfurt, Infineon Technologies is losing 2.1 percent. Insurer Allianz is falling 1 percent.
Deutsche Bank is sliding 0.7 percent while Commerzbank is moderately higher.
BMW and Daimler are in negative territory while Volkswagen is up 0.9 percent.
Porsche is gaining 5.5 percent after the firm won the dismissal of two investor suits in connection with the allegations that the company had lied about its failed Volkswagen takeover plan in 2008.
Truckmaker MAN is modestly higher. Basf, SAP and Deutsche Telekom are making modest advances.
In Paris, lenders Credit Agricole, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are declining around 2.3 percent each. Insurer Axa is losing 1.5 percent.
Bouygues is dropping 1.4 percent and peer Vinci is falling 0.6 percent. HSBC cut Bouygues to "Neutral" from "Overweight," while initiating Vinci with a "Neutral" rating.
EADS is moderately lower. Zodiac Aerospace is losing 2.7 percent.
Michelin raised its adjusted earnings guidance for 2015 to 2.9 billion euros from its previous target of 2.5 billion euros. The stock is gaining 0.2 percent.
Vivendi is rising 1.5 percent. Carmaker Renault is advancing 1.1 percent and Peugeot is gaining 0.4 percent.
In London, miners Eurasian Natural Resources and Kazakhmys are notably higher.
Lonmin is advancing 2.4 percent. The striking miners at its Marikana platinum mine in South Africa's North West province finally struck a deal with the management on wages after a 39-day violent strike. The protesting miners were demanding pay rises and recognition of a new union.
United Utilities is gaining 2.7 percent. Severn Trent is rising 1.4 percent.
Smiths Group reported a decline in fiscal 2012 profit hurt by one-time costs. The British technology company's revenue, however, increased with growth across all divisions. The stock is up 1.2 percent.
HSBC is gaining 1.4 percent. Barclays is losing 1.7 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland is modestly lower.
Spanish fashion retailer Inditex SA said profit in the first half of the year climbed 32 percent from last year, amid a 17 percent increase in sales, as the company opened more stores. The stock is up 2.2 percent.
Heineken is gaining 6.4 percent in Amsterdam after the Dutch brewer announced the support of ThaiBev in its offer for Fraser & Neave Ltd.'s stake in Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd.
Holcim is up 1.8 percent. JPMorgan raised its rating on the stock.
Across Asia/Pacific, Australia's All Ordinaries added 0.5 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.40 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.2 percent each.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages eventually ended the day mixed, although they were all nearly flat. While the Dow inched up 0.1 percent, the Nasdaq edged down 0.03 percent and the S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for October delivery is losing $0.64 to $94.65 per barrel and December gold is rising $6.8 to $1778.0 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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