The Stoxx Europe 600 index was 0.2% higher in early trade, helped by a second straight day of gains on Wall Street, with shares of small companies recovering from some of their recent losses.
In Asia, most markets had gained, with Japan's Nikkei boosted by a slightly weaker yen. Thailand's stock market fell and its currency weakened Tuesday after the nation's armed forces declared martial law.
In largely quiet trade in Europe, the Australian dollar was the main mover, weakening sharply after the country's central bank said it expects interest rates will likely remain at record low levels for some time as the economy faces a slowdown in mining investment, cuts to government spending and weaker export growth.
The Aussie dollar shed 0.6% against the U.S. dollar to trade at $0.9265, a two-week low.
"We would anticipate market rate expectations likely being scaled back," said foreign-exchange strategists at Morgan Stanley.
In equity markets, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.1%, with Vodafone shares dragging on the index after the company's guidance for the coming year was poorly received by investors.
Ahead, markets were awaiting April inflation figures for the U.K.
Italy's FTSE MIB climbed 0.5%, after some steep declines in recent sessions.
Italian stocks were hit last week as jitters surfaced ahead of European elections, and some investors reassessed euro-zone assets that have performed strongly early in 2014.
Italian and Spanish bonds also gained slightly, having slipped on Monday.
In commodities markets, gold was 0.1% lower at $1,292.00 an ounce, and Brent crude oil was up 0.1% at $109.51 a barrel.
Write to Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 20, 2014 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)
0 Response to "European Stocks Settle After Sell Off"
Thanks for give comment.