EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Climb After China's Liquidity Injection

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets advanced on Tuesday, tracking most Asian bourses higher, after the People's Bank of China provided a short-term liquidity injection to commercial banks.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2% to 336.16, flirting with a six-year high.

Shares of Unilever PLC (UL) rallied 3.7% after the consumer-products company reported a rise in full-year earnings.

Shares of Novozymes AS (NVZMY) picked up 2.3% after the enzyme maker said it expects sales and profits to rise in 2014 from the previous year. It also posted a slightly stronger-than-expected profit increase for the fourth quarter and proposed a raised dividend for 2013.

On a more downbeat note, shares of Rémy Cointreau SA gave up 3.1% as the drinks maker said it doesn't expect sales to rebound in China during the crucial New Year holidays later in the month. The country's crackdown on official gift-making pushed down sales by more than 20% in the latest quarter.

More broadly, the Chinese Lunar New Year was in focus in the financial sector. Most Asian markets closed in positive territory on Tuesday after the People's Bank of China said it will intervene in the money markets to cool the "squeeze in interbank-lending lending/borrowing rates, which had moved up in repose to the seasonal New Year cash drawdown by the public," according to Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. Around the holiday, large amounts of money are usually withdrawn from the banks to fund travel and gifts.

In Europe, investors waited for the ZEW survey, set for released midmorning, which should provide a snapshot of sentiment about Germany's economy in January among the country's economists and analysts.

Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.3% to 9,746.07 ahead of the data. France's CAC 40 index added 0.2% to 4,331.50, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index gained 0.1% to 6,843.88.

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