Europe open: Stocks hit five-week high, DAX reaches new record

European stocks continued their recent surge on Tuesday morning, rising for the fourth straight day, helped by a decent performance from US and Asian indices overnight.

The Stoxx 600 was up 0.7% at 517.19 by 0955 CET, with gains of more than 1% recorded across Paris, Milan and Madrid, while London and German put in more moderate gains. Nevertheless, Frankfurt's DAX was trading above the 20,000 mark for the first time.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 has now climbed around 2.4% over the past four trading sessions, sitting at its highest level since 29 October.

"European stock markets are pushing higher with the DAX setting a fresh record high above 20k despite the weak economic outlook for Germany and political troubles brewing. The stock market is not the economy – the mid-caps are down 3% for the year in Germany," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Finalto.

With the European economic data calendar relatively quiet, traders will be keeping a close eye on political developments in France amid expectations that prime minister Michel Barnier will lose a no-confidence motion over the budget on Wednesday.

Speaking to France 2 TV on Tuesday, the country's finance minister Antoine Armand said France was at a "turning point" but urged ministers "not to plunge the country into uncertainty" with a show a no confidence.

US stock indices finished mixed on Monday night but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to notch new record highs, rising 0.2% and 1.0% on the day respectively, helped by a strong performance from the tech sector. Meanwhile, markets in Asia surged, with the Nikkei 225 and Hang Seng indices jumping 1.95% and 1.0% respectively.0

In other news, oil prices were pushing higher early on ahead of an OPEC+ meeting on Thursday, in which the group is expected to extend output cuts until the end of the first quarter. Brent was up 1% at $72.56 a barrel.

Market movers

In equity news, London's SSP Group was a high riser on the Stoxx 600, jumping 13% after the food service company reported a 35% jump in annual profits as good performances in North America and the UK helped to offset a disappointing performance in Continental Europe.

Irish budget airline Ryanair was also on the ascent after reporting an 11% jump in passenger numbers for November, compared with last year.