Europe close: Rebound in oil prices and gains for banks push stocks higher

European stocks continued their upward march on Wednesday, led by gains in bank and basic resource stocks amid mostly well-received corporate news, helped along by a rebound in oil prices in the final hour of trading.

The benchmark DJ Stoxx Europe 600 index was up by 0.43% to 350.74, while Germany’s DAX gained 0.69% to 10,421.29 and France’s CAC 40 another 0.56% to 4,591.92.

In parallel, the Stoxx 600 gauge of bank stocks was up by 2.82% to 108.51 and a sub-index of basic resource companies by 2.44% to 311.60.

Acting as a backdrop, oil prices rebounded following the latest weekly oil inventory data Stateside, despite news earlier in the day that oil workers in Kuwait had agreed to end their three-day strike, returning output to normal levels and reigniting worries about oversupply.

West Texas Intermediate finished up by 1.74% to $43.22 a barrel while Brent crude was higher by 1.65% to $44.78.

“For now, it feels like where oil prices go, everything follows, with gold now even shedding its role as a safe haven asset to instead trade within a positive correlation with crude,” said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG.

Three-month LME-traded copper futures finished the session with gains of 0.6% to $4,947.00 per metric tonne.

Some well-received corporate news helped to keep a lid on losses, however.

Chip designer ARM Holdings rallied after its first-quarter results beat analysts’ expectations.

BHP Billiton shares were higher after it cut its iron ore production guidance and said it was on track to deliver an average unit cost improvement of 14% across its major assets.

Heineken was also in the black after the brewer said beer volumes in the first quarter rose sharply, partly due to a strong performance in Vietnam and China.

On the downside, German software company SAP was on the back foot as its first-quarter sales missed analysts’ expectations.

On the macroeconomic front, data released by Destatis earlier shower German producer prices were flat on the month in March versus expectations for a 0.2% increase.

Compared with the same month last year, prices were down 3.1, which was steeper than the 2.9% drop pencilled in by economists.

Energy prices were a big contributor, down 9.2% compared with March last year, with prices of intermediate goods down 2.3% and price of non-durable goods 0.3% lower.

However, prices of capital goods rose by 0.6% and of durable consumer goods by 1.4%.