Europe close: Late rebound in crude oil futures pushes stocks higher

A late rebound in crude oil futures pushed shares on the Continent higher even as European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi repeated that inflation in the euro area had yet to make a convincing comeback.

The Stoxx 600 finished higher by 0.16% to 396.45, as the Dax edged up 0.07% to 12,757.46 and the FTSE Mibtel added 0.31% to 21,552.81.

Boosting the former was a 0.90% gain in Oil&Gas shares after the US Department of Energy reported a 5.8m barrel drop in commercial crude stockpiles for the latest week.

In parallel, the Stoxx 600 gauge of bank shares advanced 0.44% to 189.37 despite the ECB chief's remarks.

In a speech to the Danish parliament, Draghi said economic risks had further diminished but it was too early to declare success, contrary to speculation that he might sound a more optimistic note.

Many analysts believe the ECB Governing Council will offer a more neutral 'balance-of-risks' assessment following its meeting in June, heralding a slow shift towards not extending its current programme of quantitate easing and culminating in a small increase in the central bank's deposit rate facility.

"It is too early to declare success. Underlying inflation pressures continue to remain subdued and have yet to show a convincing upward trend," he said.

To take note of, his speech came amid intensifying calls for a debate around the need for reforms of the euro area's architecture, especially following the election of French centrist reformer Emmanuele Macron as president.

Worth noting, earlier in the session, on the other side of the globe, data released overnight showed Chinese factory gate prices slipped from a 7.6% year-on-year pace in March to 6.4% in April.

That, Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics said, meant hopes for "sustained reflation" in the world's third largest economy were fading.

Against that backdrop, euro/dollar was off by 0.07% to 1.0867 while front month Brent crude futures were gaining 3.3% to $50.38 a barrel on the ICE.

French factories whirred back into life in March, with total output ahead by 2.5% on the month, while total industrial production was ahead by 2.0% (consensus: 1.0%).

Industrial production in Italy outpaced economists' forecasts, rising by 2.8% year-on-year in March (consensus: 2.5%).

First quarter operating profits at HeidelbergCement slipped 3% on a like-for-like basis, dragged down by a decline in emerging markets.

Sales volumes over that same period at France's EdF fell 1.5% hurt by the weaker pound, the energy giant disclosed.

Net income at French lender Natixis jumped 40% during the first quarter amid a flood of trading activity.