European markets were up Tuesday, pushed higher by banks and miners.
The FTSE 100 added 1.45 percent to 5,484.06 in London, while the FTSE 250 gained 1.25 percent to 9,598.65.
British Airways (LSE: BAY) led the 100 as it added 6.17 percent, while the best performances in London came over on the 250 as plastics group Filtrona PLC (LSE: FLTR) and IT services group Computacenter (LSE: CCC) each gained 7.39 percent on the session.
Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) led banks ahead of its full-year report on Wednesday with a gain of 4.23 percent.
Most miners were also higher, led by gold and silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES), which was up 4.47 percent after it reported that its profits soared by 141 percent last year, while Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) led declines in the sector as it dropped 3.29 percent on a convertible bond issue worth $775 million.
Insurers did the worst on the 100, led lower by Prudential (LSE: PRU), which was down 8.02 percent on continuing sentiment regarding its bid for American International Group’s (NYSE: AIG) Asian operations.
Auto insurer Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) dropped 3.32 percent on its full-year results.
Pace (LSE: PIC), which specializes in technology for cable and satellite television, provided the biggest decline on the 250 as it dropped 5.79 percent.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.71 percent to 1,026.88 while the IBEX added 0.83 percent to 10,521.5, the Dax was 1.1 percent higher to 5,776.56 and the CAC-40 gained 1.12 percent to 3,811.92.
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed.
The Nikkei 225 added 0.49 percent to 10,221.84 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was up 0.42 percent to 902.71 but the Mothers market dropped 0.35 percent to 414.5.
Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503) fell 2.1 percent as it made a hostile bid for US-based drug maker OSI Pharmaceuticals (NAS: OSIP), which rejected a bid from Astellas last year.
Also hurting Astellas were predictions that it will see operating profits drop by 13 percent in the upcoming fiscal year.
Other gainers included Taiwan’s Taiex, which added 0.26 percent to 7,597.62.
In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.32 percdent to 4,709.9 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.33 percent higher to 4,701.9 after the central bank there raised interest rates a quarter of a percentage point to 4 percent and on data showing that retail sales there were up 1.2 percent in January from December.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.29 percent to 1,615.12, while the Sensex added 2.09 percent to 16,772.56 in India.
Among decliners, the Straits Times Index was down 0.07 percent to 2,772.2, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.48 percent to 3,073.11 and the Hang Seng dropped 0.72 percent to 20,906.11.
Wall Street was up in midday trade in New York, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.22 percent to 10,427.06 while the S&P 500 was up 0.38 percent to 1,119.92 and the Nasdaq Composite had gained 0.42 percent to 2,283.04.
Prices for oil and metals were higher at midday, with West Texas intermediate crude oil trading above $80 per barrel.
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