European Markets Finish Higher On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The major European stock markets finished modestly higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as they continue their recovery from last week's heavy selling.

The markets got a boost from the strong start from the U.S. bourses, which opened sharply higher following Monday's market holiday and helped to underpin sentiment ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress later this week.

For the day, Germany's DAX added 26.80 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 13,292.40, while London's FTSE gained 30.24 points or 0.42 percent to close at 7,152.05 and the CAC 40 in France climbed 44.57 points or 0.75 percent to end at 5,964.66.

In Germany, Fresnius Medical plummeted 9.03 percent, Bayer tumbled 2.05 percent, Volkswagen jumped 1.86 percent, Covestro climbed 1.52 percent, Infineon Technologies advanced 1.27 percent, Deutsche Post improved 1.06 percent, Deutsche Telekom dropped 0.93 percent, Deutsche Bank collected 0.48 percent, Heidelberg Cement gained 0.45 percent and Deutsche Borse was unchanged.

In London, Antofagasta spiked 2.98 percent, Associated British Foods tumbled 2.22 percent, Shell jumped 1.92 percent, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust strengthened 1.50 percent, St. James Place climbed 1.25 percent, Rightmove gained 1.24 percent, Centrica sank 0.94 percent, Tesco slumped 0.83 percent, Rolls-Royce lost 0.73 percent, BAE Systems gathered 0.53 percent and British American Tobacco fell 0.51 percent.

In France, Atos plunged 5.13 percent, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain soared 2.48 percent, BNP Paribas accelerated 2.09 percent, Credit Agricole improved 2.06 percent, Carrefour dropped 1.80 percent, Sanofi sank 1.23 percent, Societe Generale collected 1.04 percent, Danone fell 0.60 percent and Vivendi eased 0.14 percent.

In economic news, the euro area current account deficit increased notably in April, largely due to the shortfalls in primary and secondary income, the European Central Bank said on Tuesday. The current account deficit widened to a seasonally adjusted EUR 6 billion from EUR 2 billion in March.

Also, the UK manufacturing output growth is set to ease further in the coming three months and domestic price growth expectations eased to a nine-month low, the Industrial Trends Survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed on Tuesday. The manufacturing output balance fell to +25 percent in three months to June from +30 percent in May. A net balance of 20 percent forecast production to rise in the three months ahead.