Europe close: Stocks advance amid lack of data

European equities advanced on Thursday, with autos and basic resources lending support to a fairly quiet session as US markets were closed.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index closed up 0.93%, while Germany’s DAX was 1.35% higher and France’s CAC 40 was up 1.08%.

As of 1635 GMT, the euro was on the back foot against the main currencies, losing 0.12% and 0.11% against the dollar and the pound respectively, while Brent crude tumbled 2.37% to $45.09 a barrel.

“Oil prices look to be anticipating more negative sentiment being dumped on them as both US light and Brent crude sell off,” said IG’s senior market analyst Alastair McCaig.

“Ahead of next week’s Vienna meeting for the OPEC nations, Saudi Arabia has been making further noises about maintaining the supply levels to the markets.”

With no major economic releases scheduled for Thursday and the US markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday – Wall Street will operate only half day on Friday - traders had very little information to work with.

Sentiment was also being underpinned by reports on Wednesday that Eurozone central bank officials were considering options such as staggering charges on banks hoarding cash or buying more debt ahead of the next European Central Bank meeting.

“Talk that the European Central Bank is considering a two-tier deposit rate has raised expectations over the size of stimulus that the central bank will almost certainly introduce in its meeting next week,” said CMC Markets’ analyst Jasper Lawler.

“Before Wednesday’s leak, consensus was for a 10 bps cut to the deposit rate but with a two-tiered system there is room for a cut as big as 20 bps for those banks holding more on deposit at the ECB.”

In company news, German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies surged 12.9% after it said net profit in the quarter ended September rose 80%.

On the downside, Remy Cointreau fell 3% after the French spirits company reported a 7% drop in first half like-for-like operating profit.

BHP Billiton slid 2.76% after it rejected claims from the United Nations that waste from the tailings burst at the Samarco mine in Brazil was toxic.