European Markets Added To Yesterday's Gains, But Greek Concerns Persist

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Wednesday's session in the green, adding to the gains of the previous session. Yesterday's rally was sparked by comments from comments from Benoît Cœuré, who said the ECB would moderately frontload its purchase activity in May and June.

Today's gains were limited by continued concerns over the situation in Greece. The European Central Bank's Governing Council is meeting today to discuss whether to raise the collateral requirements for the emergency loans it gives to the Bank of Greece.

The 25-member council, led by ECB President Mario Draghi, is set to meet in Frankfurt to decide whether to tighten the rules for the Emergency Liquidity Assistance, or ELA, for Greece.

However, analysts expect ECB policymakers not to any take decision that could trigger a crisis. That said, pressure is mounting on the bank to get tough with Greece as the country veers towards a default amid the ongoing political crisis.

Bank of England policymakers unanimously voted to keep the monetary policy stance unchanged at the meeting held early this month and suggested that next action would be a hike in interest rate, but such a move is unlikely until 2016.

The Monetary Policy Committee voted 9-0 to hold the key interest rate at a record low of 0.50 percent and asset purchase programme at GBP 375 billion, the minutes of the meeting held on May 7 and 8 showed Wednesday.

For two members, the immediate policy decision remained finely balanced between voting to hold or raise the bank rate.

"While there was a range of views over the most likely future path for Bank Rate, all members agreed that it was more likely than not that Bank Rate would rise over the three-year forecast period," the minutes said.

Investors will be watching for the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting later today. Following the April meeting, the central bank did not provide any specific guidance about the timing of the first interest rate hike.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.40 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.59 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed by 0.00 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose by 0.36 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. gained 0.19 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.26 percent.

In Frankfurt, Bayer finish down by 0.22 percent. Bayer HealthCare and its development partner Janssen Pharma announced results from the VENTURE-AF Trial.

Deutsche Wohnen fell by 3.58 percent, after reporting key figures for the first quarter.

E.ON increased by 1.64 percent and RWE added 1.04 percent.

In Paris, Vivendi advanced by 2.02 percent. The company is reportedly set to acquire over an 8 percent stake in Telecom Italia, which would make it the largest shareholder in the company.

Credit Agricole gained 1.40 percent and Societe Generale added 0.85 percent.

In London, Burberry dropped by 5.03 percent, after it cut its profit guidance.

Marks & Spencer dipped by 0.34 percent. The company reported a full year profit before tax of 600 million pounds, up 3.4 percent from 580.4 million pounds in the previous year.

Vodafone climbed by 5.41 percent. Liberty Global Chairman John Malone said a tie-up with the telecom giant would be a great fit for his company.

GKN rose by 0.22 percent, after Investec upgraded its rating on the stock to "Buy" from "Hold."

UBS gained 1.78 percent in Zurich, after announcing a settlement with U.S. regulators.

Telecom operator Altice surged by 11.59 percent in Amsterdam. The company announced entry into the U.S. market with the acquisition of Suddenlink.

Eurozone construction output increased in March, after declining in the previous month, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday. Construction output rose 0.8 percent month-over-month in March, reversing a 1.6 percent decrease in February, which was revised from a 1.8 percent drop reported earlier.

Germany's producer prices declined at a slightly faster-than-expected pace in April, figures from Destatis showed Wednesday. The producer price index fell 1.5 percent year-over-year in April, just above economists' expectations for a 1.4 percent decrease.

UK households' finance outlook worsened for the first time in eight months in May, while their financial woes eased to a record low, results of a survey by Markit Economics and financial information provider Ipsos Mori revealed Wednesday. The seasonally adjusted Markit Household Finance Index rose slightly to 45.8 in May from 45.7 in the previous month.