Europe open: Basic resources, banks power early gains

Basic resource issues paced early gains in Europe after a dovish policy statement from the US central bank overnight drove the greenback lower, stoking commodity prices.

As of 0915 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up by 2.18 or 0.58% to 377.38, with a sector subindex for basic resources shooting higher by 3.89% to 437.03.

That came alongside gains of 0.97% for the Dax to 12,129.89, while the out on the periphery of the euro area the FTSE Mib was up 1.61% to 319.24. Spain´s Ibex was seeing a similar advance, led by a 4% jump in steelmaker Arcelor Mittal and a 3% pop in banking groups Santander and BBVA.

"Calls for a positive open come thanks to investors ignoring the Fed’s rate hike to concentrate on an unchanged outlook. Forecasting just two more hikes this year, markets have digested the policy update as less hawkish than it could have been. A USD sell-off has thus helped Oil and metals extend rebounds, benefiting the likes of dual-listed Miners RIO and BLT down under overnight," said Mike Van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets.

Euro/dollar was slightly off its best levels reached overnight, at 1.0712.

Also overnight, the Bank of Japan decided to keep rates unchanged; while expected its actions underscored the increasing policy breach between some of the world's main central banks.

Also providing a boost for markets, with 95.0% of the vote in, was the Dutch electorate's shunning of the far right in favour of Mark Rutte's Liberals.

Still ahead on the economic calendar for Thursday were the Eurozone consumer price figures for February at 1000 GMT followed by the Bank of England's policy announcement at noon.

Carmarkers drive early gains

German car makers were in the news early on after the Association of European Carmakers reported a 2.1% rise in auto registrations for February, driving gains in the likes of BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen.

Traders showed particular interest in Volkswagen after its trucks unit forecast significant increases in operating profits and returns on sales in 2017.

HeidelbergCement lifted its target for cost savings accruing from the purchase of rival Italcementi from €400m to €470m thanks to faster than expected job cuts last year.