European stocks are expected to open higher Tuesday after a solid session in Asia and yet another record-setting day on Wall Street.
Britain's FTSE 100 is poised to rise around 16 points higher at the opening bell, according to financial bookmakers IG, with 19 points priced in to the open for the DAX and around 10 points for France's CAC-40. The gains follow the best run for U.S. stocks in at least 30 years in the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average clocked its 12th consecutive record high Monday amid a global equity rally that has added more than $6 trillion to worldwide portfolios since Donald Trump's election in November of last year.
Markets in Asia attempted to bridge the gap between U.S. and European markets overnight before paring gains as the session wound to a close as the region-wide MSCI Asia ex-Japan index dipped 0.09% into the red by 06:45 GMT. Japan's Nikkei 225, however, managed to snap a three day losing streak and edge 0.1% higher to close at 19,118.99 points.
The Tuesday figures, however, mask a solid monthly and year-to-day performance for Asia stocks, with the MSCI gaining 3.6% in February and a little more than 10% since the start of the year, firmly ahead of the 0.7% year-to-date advance for the Nikkei.
Global oil markets remained locked in the debate between increased signals of rising U.S. output and unprecedented discipline from OPEC and non-cartel members on their agreed 1.8 million barrels in production cuts. In that respects, markets were little-changed from a fundamental view, and instead took their cues from currency markets, where the U.S. dollar traded around 0.22% lower against a basket of global currencies at 100.92.
