Europe open: Stocks edge higher in quiet trading
Stocks have started the session moving slightly higher in what is expected to be very quiet trading on account of the Christmas holidays.
As of 0817 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.15% or 0.58 points higher to 390.91, alongside gains of 0.40% to 13,124.56 for the German Dax and an advance of 0.35% to 5,382.47 on the French Cac-40.
"A thin volume trading is a general theme across the markets. European stock markets are trading marginally higher. Most traders are away on their holiday and we do not expect much action in the markets, however, the general portfolio rebalancing trade would be the most common feature between now and the end of this year.
"Markets are looking at the energy market and crude oil crossing the $60 mark has engaged some traders. We have not seen the oil prices crossing this mark in the past two years. A pipe blast in Libya is the major reason behind the move," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK.
The economic calendar was light on Wednesday, with Spain's national office of statistics having reported a 2.9% year-on-year increase in retail sales for November (consensus: 0.8%).
Later in the day, investors would be watching for readings on consumer confidence and pending home sales in the States at 1500 GMT.
INSEE was also scheduled to publish its jobseekers figures for November at 1600 GMT.
Some of the Continent's largest carmakers were in focus, after BMW and Dailer detailed the impact which tax cuts in the US were expected to have on their bottome line for 2017.
The former estimated that net profits would be increased by between €950m and €1.55bn, while at Daimler the boost was seen reaching €1.7bn.