Europe close: Stocks end higher in holiday-thinned trade as oil recovers

European stocks rose on Tuesday as oil prices recovered following sharp declines in the previous session.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 closed up 1.5%, Germany’s DAX rose 1.9% and France’s CAC 40 ended 1.8% higher in holiday-thinned trade.

“With many investors still away until the New Year, volumes will remain low but we see more money flowing into equities as more inflows should be the theme after a lacklustre performance for European equities in 2015,” said Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers.

In commodity markets, oil prices gained back ground, with West Texas Intermediate up 2.5% at $37.72 and Brent crude 3% higher at $37.70 after sliding more than 3% on Monday.

On the corporate front, Deutsche Bank shares rose after it agreed to sell its stake in Chinese lender Hua Xia for up to €3.7bn in an effort to strengthen its balance sheet.

Adidas was also in the black after the sports retailer’s finance chief, Robin Stalker, denied claims that it was facing pressure from activist shareholders to offload more assets.

Budget airline Ryanair was higher after saying it delivered 70% of all traffic growth at Cork, Dublin, Knock and Shannon airports this year, which saw record growth for Irish tourism.

In London, housebuilders rallied, with Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey on the front foot after a report from property group Haart showed house prices in November rose 13.4% annually and 3.7% on the month to reach an average of £231,857.

The sector was also boosted by expectations that it will benefit from any rebuilding or repair work that needs to be carried out as a result of the recent flooding in the UK.

However, RSA Insurance slipped as it emerged the floods could cost the economy up to $5.8bn, with insurers likely to see claims of up to £1.5bn.

There were no major Eurozone data releases so investors turned their attention to the US, where the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 96.5 in December from 92.6 the previous month, beating economists’ expectations for a reading of 93.6.

Elsewhere, the S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index revealed that house prices were up 5.2 % in October compared to the same month last year and up from a 4.9% increase in September.

The 20-City Composite’s year-over-year gain was 5.5% versus 5.4% reported in September.