European stocks rose for a seventh day, their longest winning streak this year, as data showed China’s economic growth accelerated for the first time in three quarters. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also gained.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.3 percent to 316.96 at 8:12 a.m. in London. It has climbed 1.7 percent this week as U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law a measure extending the government’s borrowing authority until early 2014 and ending a government shutdown that started Oct. 1.
“China’s GDP figures reported a steady growth rate coming out in line with expectations,” Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at Capital Spreads in London, wrote in a note. “Bulls will be content with the fact that the recent downward trend of the last two quarters has been broken.”
In China, gross domestic product increased 7.8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. That matched the median estimate of economists. The world’s second-biggest economy posted GDP growth of 7.7 percent and 7.5 percent in the first two quarters, slipping from a 7.9 percent expansion in the final three months of 2012.
Schindler increased 4.3 percent to 127.40 Swiss francs, its biggest gain since November 2011, after the elevator maker said it will spend as much as 1.06 billion francs in a modified share buyback program.
Ziggo NV climbed 1.5 percent to 30.86 euros after reiterating its full-year forecast for so-called organic-sales growth of about 1 percent. The Dutch cable-television provider, which this week rejected an offer from Liberty Global Plc, reported third-quarter revenue of 391 million euros ($535 million), compared with analysts’ estimate of 393 million euros.
Cap Gemini advanced 2.6 percent to 46.78 euros after starting exclusive talks to buy Areva’s software-services unit Euriware.
FTSE 100 6,596.51 +20.35 +0.31%
CAC 40 4,257.53 +17.89 +0.42%
DAX 8,825.35 +13.37 +0.15%