The UK market erased early losses and is rising modestly in afternoon trading Wednesday, buoyed by upbeat data that U.K. manufacturing output rose for a third month, lifting the annual growth to a near 16-year high in July.
Crude for October delivery is trading at $73.90 per barrel, down $0.19 from the previous close, ahead of the weekly inventory report from the Energy Information Administration. December gold is adding $2.1 at $1261.4 an ounce.
In economic news, U.K. manufacturing output recorded an annual growth of 4.9% in July, bigger than the 4% growth seen in June, the Office for National Statistics said. The growth figure matched economists' expectations.
Meanwhile, in Germany, industrial production edged up 0.1% in July from June, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology said. Economists were looking for a 1% rise in July after recording a 0.6% fall in June.
The FTSE 100 opened at 5,408 and remained in negative territory in early trade. The index is currently adding 0.15%.
Chipmaker Arm Holdings is gaining 4.3% and Inmarsat is adding 2.2%. Utility Centrica and investment bank Icap are rising 2.1% each.
Oil giant BP is gaining 1.7% and BG Group is up 1.1%.
Banking stocks continued the previous session's downtrend as concerns remained that the stress tests concluded on them did not adequately reveal their risky bonds and that they may need more capital.
Lender Barclays is losing 3.24%, followed by Royal Bank of Scotland, which is down 2.6%. HSBC Holdings and Lloyds Banking Group are sliding 1.2% and 0.7%, respectively.
Miners Vedanta Resources, BHP Billiton, Eurasian Natural Resources and Rio Tinto are sliding between 1.7% and 0.7%.
Among individual decliners, beverages firm Diageo and packaging company Rexam are each losing 1.9%.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is adding 0.43% while the French CAC 40 is gaining 0.53%.
Across Asia/Pacific, most major markets closed in the red. Australia's All Ordinaries lost 0.75%, China's Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.11% and Japan's Nikkei 225 retreated 2.18%. However, India's BSE Sensex ended modestly higher by 0.12%.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the Dow fell 1%, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 each declined 1.1%.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.