(MENAFN- AFP) European stock markets on Tuesday shrugged off signals the German economy may be slowing to build on hefty gains won in the previous session.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies ended the day 0.43 percent higher at 6,326.16 points, while in the eurozone Paris' CAC 40 index climbed 0.95 percent to 4,660.64 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 rose 0.90 percent to 9,902.83.
Milan gained 0.92 percent and Madrid shot up 1.32 percent.
"After a wobbly start, UK and European shares edged higher in afternoon trade when oil and metal prices gained a footing after initially falling," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.
"A surprise drop in German factory orders in September had brought growth concerns back into play, leading stock indices to pullback from multi-week highs," he added.
Official data showed that German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for goods in Europe's biggest economy, had slumped in August.
The month-on-month drop of 1.8 percent was the second consecutive month of decline, and missed analysts' forecasts.
Stock markets across the globe took a pounding in August on slowing growth in China, the world's number two economy and the source of much global growth in recent years.
European markets have rebounded in recent days as poor data suggests the US Federal Reserve may hold off on raising interest rates, as well as the possibility of more stimulus from the European Central Bank.
- Brewing bid announcement -
In Tuesday trade, British brewing company SABMiller shed 3.77 percent to 3,622 pence after it emerged that the drinks giant "turned down an informal offer from Anheuser-Busch InBev" alongside a disappointing trading update from SABMiller, said Campbell.
AB InBev dipped 0.33 percent to 98.06 euros.
SABMiller has snubbed the £66.4 billion ($101 billion/90 billion euros) bid, arguing it was too low, Bloomberg News agency reported citing people familiar with the matter.
The initial offer was worth just over £40 per share, but some shareholders wanted closer to £45 a share, according to Bloomberg.
A potential deal would bring together AB InBev's Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois beers with SABMiller's Foster's, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell.
The new chief of scandal-hit Volkswagen, Matthias Mueller, braced his workforce for tough times ahead on Tuesday, admitting that billions laid aside for fines and damages over a massive pollution cheating scam will not be enough, but the company's shares nevertheless gained 3.82 percent in value to 97.09 euros.
The automaker's admission it had fitted 11 million vehicles with devices that trick testing equipment and then spew out high levels of pollutants on the road has wiped more than 40 percent off Volkswagen's market capitalisation.
- Oil shares climb -
Rising oil prices helped oil companies on Tuesday, with Royal Dutch Shell's A share jumping 3.34 percent to 1,746 pence and BP climbing 2.74 percent to 378.10 pence. In Paris, shares in Total rose 3.33 percent to 44.41 euros.
In Asian trading, agreement on a Pacific-wide free-trade agreement and hopes that major central banks will maintain extra-loose monetary policies fired another broad rally.
Tokyo ended 1.00 percent higher, Sydney gained 0.33 percent and Seoul was 0.63 percent up. Shanghai was closed for a public holiday.
But Hong Kong eased 0.19 percent on profit-taking after surging more than six percent in the previous three sessions.
Wall Street was in negative territory in midday trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding 0.10 percent 16,759.12 points in midday.
The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.56 percent to 1,975.90, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 1.09 percent to 4,728.97.
In foreign exchange, the euro climbed to $1.1264 from $1.1187 late on Monday in New York, with the US unit hit by growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will delay until 2016 its first rate-hike in years.<
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