London: European equities rebounded Wednesday as weak Chinese economic growth data stoked Beijing stimulus hopes while the ECB pledged to fully implement its stimulus measures.
In afternoon trading, the benchmark CAC 40 index rallied 0.83 percent compared with Tuesday`s close to 5,261.50 points and Frankfurt`s DAX 30 won 0.47 percent to 12,284.81 points.
London`s FTSE 100 index advanced 0.45 percent to 7,107.12 points, aided partly by news of sparkling sales from luxury goods company Burberry.
In foreign exchange activity, the European single currency edged up to $1.0655 from $1.0654 late in New York on Tuesday.Mario Draghi sought to reassure markets that the ECB will fully implement its stimulus programme, following speculation of an early exit on signs it is quickly working to perk up growth and dangerously low inflation in the eurozone.
After the ECB decided to keep its main policy rate at the record low 0.05 percent, Draghi said "there is clear evidence that the monetary policy measures we have put in place are effective."
Last month the ECB began its massive 1.1-trillion-euro QE or "quantitative easing" scheme under which it aims to buy 60 billion euros of bonds per month until September 2016.
"Financial market conditions and the cost of external finance for the private sector have eased considerably over the past months and borrowing conditions for firms and households have improved notably, with a pick-up in the demand for credit," said Draghi.
"Looking ahead, our focus will be on the full implementation of our monetary policy measures," he added.A major corporate acquisition was also in focus as Finnish telecoms giant Nokia agreed a 15.6-billion-euro ($16.5-billion) takeover of Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent.
The deal, creating the world`s biggest supplier of mobile phone network equipment, sent Alcatel shares slumping more than 12 percent in Paris -- but Nokia won 0.47 percent in Helsinki.
The merger of two companies -- once high-flying new technology stars -- is aimed at producing a European champion able to take on Nokia`s Swedish rival Ericsson and fierce Chinese competition.
Markets were meanwhile also lifted by rebounding world oil prices, with Brent crude above $59 per barrel on hopes of an easing global supply glut.
"Oil related stocks are very sensitive to the price of oil as it directly impacts their profitability," Oanda analyst Craig Erlam told AFP.
"Just as we saw when oil prices were tumbling, the heavy weighting of these large stocks in the indices will often play a big role in their direction on the day."
In London, shares in Royal Dutch Shell rose 2.25 percent to 2,133 pence and BP gained 0.79 percent to 474.68 pence, while Paris shares in Total climbed 1.73 percent to 49.57 euros.Across in Asia, Hong Kong stocks ticked higher but Shanghai sank after a further slowdown in Chinese economic growth, while Tokyo dipped on a stronger yen.
Shanghai tumbled 1.24 percent but Hong Kong closed up 0.21 percent.
China said its economy expanded 7.0 percent in the first three months of 2015, slightly better than forecast in an AFP survey but much slower than October-December. It was also the worst for a single quarter since the first three months of 2009, in the depths of the global financial crisis.
The figures are the latest to highlight a slowdown in the economy and will likely increase expectations Beijing will announce more stimulus on top of two interest rate rises since November.
The economy grew last year at its slowest pace in almost a quarter of a century, buffeted by weak manufacturing, slow domestic demand and low government investment, among other factors.
US stocks opened higher Wednesday as hopes of more stimulus in China outweighed mixed earnings at home.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40 percent to 18,109.30 points in the first five minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.39 percent to 2,103.92, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.31 percent to 4,992.69.
