European Stocks Continue To Trim October Losses

(RTTNews) - European stocks edged higher Wednesday, extending strong gains from the previous session despite reports that banks from six euro zone countries are set to fail the tests.

Three of the banks are Greek, three are Italian, two are Austrian, one is Cypriot, one is Belgian and one is Portuguese, according to a report from Spain's EFE newswire.

However, markets were cheered when European Central Bank Governing Council member Luc Coene said the central bank could expand its stimulus measures to purchasing instruments other than covered bonds and asset-backed securities.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks rose 0.57 percent, but are down 3.23 percent year-to-date.

Around Europe, the German DAX added 0.60 percent, France's CAC 40 was up 0.58 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.43 percent.

Aviation group Deutsche Lufthansa was flat in Frankfurt on the buzz that it may sell its IT infrastructure division to IBM.

Siemens was down 0.9 percent on a Bloomberg report that it is in advanced talks to sell its hearing-aids business for more than 2 billion euros.

Nordea Bank AB shares were down 0.35 percent in Copenhagen after its third-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates.

British American Tobacco Plc lost 2.8 percent in London after its trading update. The company posted lower revenue for the first 9 months of the year.

Swiss power grid maker ABB Ltd. said third-quarter profit fell 12% but beat expectations. Shares rose 2.7 percent.

Heineken NV shares were down 1 percent in Amsterdam as the Dutch brewer reported lower than expected beer sales for the third quarter.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc. was higher by 0.8 percent after the European oil giant announced a frontier exploration discovery offshore Gabon, West Africa.

On the economic front, Bank of England policymakers unanimously voted to leave the asset purchase program unchanged at GBP 375 billion at the meeting held early this month, while maintaining key rate at a record low 0.50 percent in a split vote, minutes of the meeting released today showed.