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The Stoxx 600 rose by 0.2 per cent to 253.89 after hitting a five-month high yesterday, with more than two stocks increasing in the gauge for every one that fell, Bloomberg reports.
It has gained 3.8 per cent since the beginning of 2012, its best start since 2004, indicating that improved global sentiment regarding the eurozone debt crisis is having a positive impact on the index.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index also improved today, leaping by one per cent as Chinese markets anticipate a change in monetary policy from the central bank.
"Traders will get their lead from the fixed-income market, with Spain and France holding their first longer-dated bond auctions since the Standard & Poor's downgrade," Chris Weston, an institutional trader at IG Markets, told the news provider.
He added that positive results in the short-term markets earlier in the month were no guarantee today's auctions will go well.
John Greenwood, chief economist at Investo, warned yesterday that Europe was "not out of crisis yet".
Posted by Clive Arneil
