Europe Stocks Rebound From Weekly Drop as Miners Rally

European stocks rebounded from the year’s biggest weekly decline, with commodity stocks leading gains after China expanded monetary easing.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.6 percent to 406.16 at 9:30 a.m. in London. BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group rose more than 1 percent after China’s central bank cut the amount of reserves banks need by the most since the global financial crisis. The move by the world’s biggest commodity consumer follows stimulus measures by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.

“It’s still a very bullish environment for the market,” Michael Kapler, who manages equities at Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse, said by phone from Potsdam, Germany. “Central banks are extremely supportive around the world, and that will definitely stay that way for some time. We have accommodative policies in Europe, Japan, China. European stocks have had such a big rally this year, last week’s breather was more than welcome. We’re likely to see more gains this year.”

The Stoxx 600 fell 1.8 percent on Friday, the most since January, as concern grew over Greek debt and China increased the supply of shares available for short selling. The benchmark measure is still up 19 percent this year, having reached a fresh record on Wednesday.

The Greek ASE Index climbed 1.5 percent today, after tumbling 6 percent last week, as National Bank of Greece SA and Jumbo SA rose more than 3 percent. A meeting of euro-area finance ministers in Riga, Latvia on April 24 is a chance for Greece to pave the path to a May agreement to win more aid and avoid a default, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said.

Gains exceeding 1.2 percent Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Continental AG pushed German stocks up 1 percent, helping the DAX Index rebound from its worst weekly decline since 2011.

Among stocks moving on corporate news, Telenet Group Holding NV rallied 4.6 percent after agreeing to buy Royal KPN NV’s Belgian mobile-phone business Base for 1.33 billion euros ($1.43 billion). KPN advanced 2.1 percent. Petrofac Ltd. slid 14 percent after saying it expects a pretax loss this year, citing project delay and increased costs.

(Source: Bloomberg)