By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

Led by defensive plays, Europe stocks advanced Tuesday as a key economic report showed German business confidence still bleak.

Rising for the fourth day in five, the Stoxx Europe 600 added 0.21% to 390.60, as pharmaceuticals, household products firms and food producers led the way, all sectors that are relatively less exposed to the swings of the economy.

The German DAX added 0.04% to 12347.42 as the Ifo business climate index in Germany rose marginally in September, but the expectations component fell to a decade low.

"A much welcome rebound, but the details weren't uplifting," said Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. "We always have to be careful fitting stories to these data, but it looks to us as if the ECB's recently announced measured have succeeded in providing a modest lift to the current assessment, while expectations are still hampered by unchanged, and elevated, global uncertainty."

The French CAC 40 rose 0.17% to 5640.36 and the U.K. FTSE 100 added 0.22% to 7342.19.

   After a slight advance for the Dow industrials   on Monday, U.S. stock futures  were higher. 

Stocks in the spotlight included EQT Partners, as the Swedish private equity firm surged to 84.24 crowns after pricing its initial public offering at 67 crowns.

K+S (SDF.XE) shares fell 4% as the German chemicals producer said it was cutting its fertilizer production due to weak demand, which will hurt operating profit by up to 80 million euros.

Evotec (EVT.XE) climbed 6% as the company announced a drug discovery collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where there Japanese firm will pay an undisclosed upfront fee as well as milestones that can reach around $170 million per program.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 24, 2019 04:47 ET (08:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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