European stocks climbed as Alcoa Inc. began the U.S. earnings season with profit that beat estimates and as Chinese inflation rose less than forecast.

Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer, late yesterday posted first-quarter earnings excluding an income-tax benefit and other one-time items of 11 cents a share, beating the 8 cent-average analyst forecast.

German exports fell in February more than economists forecast. Overseas shipments, adjusted for working days and seasonal changes, dropped 1.5 percent from January, when they gained 1.3 percent, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists forecast a 0.3 percent decline, according to the median of 15 estimates in a survey.

U.K. manufacturing rose twice as much as economists forecast in February. Factory output increased 0.8 percent from January, when it fell a revised 1.9 percent, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 29 economists in a survey was for a gain of 0.4 percent. Overall industrial output rose 1 percent in February, also exceeding the estimate of economists.

BHP added 2.5 percent to 1,925.5 pence and Rio Tinto rallied 3.9 percent to 3,109 pence as copper prices rose 1.2 percent in London. Kazakhmys Plc jumped 4.6 percent to 389.6 pence.

Repsol SA advanced 2.7 percent to 16.49 euros after spokesman Kristian Rix said the Spanish company encountered a 50-meter column of gas in the Sud-Est Illizi block in Algeria.

ICAP Plc lost 3 percent to 283.8 pence in London. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued subpoenas to ICAP brokers and as many as 15 Wall Street banks as part of an investigation into possible price manipulation of benchmark interest-rate swaps, people familiar with the matter said late yesterday. The world’s largest interbank broker said today that it’s cooperating with the CFTC in a wider inquiry and investigating the allegations.

FTSE 100 6,302.07 +25.13 +0.40%

CAC 40 3,688.77 +21.99 +0.60%

DAX 7,682.43 +19.79 +0.26%