European Stocks Extend Recent Gains, Led By Car Makers

(RTTNews) - European stocks continued to rally Tuesday amid easing concerns about Ukraine and hopes the Bank of England will hold off on a widely-anticipated rate hike.

U.K. inflation slowed more than expected in July largely due to a fall in clothing prices and factory gate prices declined unexpectedly from last year, the Office for National Statistics reported.

Inflation eased to 1.6 percent in July from 1.9 percent in June, while it was forecast to slow to 1.8 percent.

Tame inflation gives UK policy makers more room to maintain accommodative monetary policy through this year.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks gained 0.63 percent, but is down 0.53 percent year-to-date.

The German DAX rose 0.96 percent and the French CAC 40 edged up 0.56 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 also added 0.56 percent.

Car makers and auto parts manufacturers put in another strong performance. In Frankfurt, tire maker Continental added 2.75 percent. Volkswagen rose 2 percent.

Bayer rose percent. UBS raised the stock to ''Buy'' from "Neutral.''

ThyssenKrupp advanced 0.73 percent on a report that the steel giant plans to shed some businesses.

Vehicle rental company Sixt is gaining 4 percent, after announcing first-half results.

In London, Imperial Tobacco Group picked up 2.2 percent. The company reported underlying growth in revenue for the first nine months of the year.

John Wood Group rose 4 percent. The energy services provider reported increased first-half revenues.

BHP Billiton reported a higher full year profit, and said it plans to separate its high-quality aluminum, coal, manganese, nickel and silver assets through a demerger. The stock dropped 4.9 percent.

Cairn Energy, which reported narrower loss, was flat.

Balfour Beatty pushed higher after Carillion offered to buy the company for 2.09 billion pounds ($3.5 billion).

Maersk added 5 percent in Copenhagen. The shipping firm upped its profit forecast for the year and announced a $1 billion buyback.