Financial trader Shavaz Dhalla from Spreadex said that bourses across Europe “opened confidently today” as the Chinese data “provided an excuse for investors to dive back into the equity markets in full throttle”.

The FTSE 100 pulled back on Wednesday, recording its first day in the red in 10 trading sessions, as traders took profits after the index hit a five-month high the day before. Concerns over a spike in money-market rates in China and nervousness ahead of a round of stress tests for European banks dampened sentiment across markets yesterday.

“Although some analysts have pointed out that they expect a period of consolidation owing to the near all-time highs of equities as well as restrictions in the flow of cash from China, investors nevertheless still think that there are bargains out there and have adopted a buying mentality today,” Dhalla said.

Indices across Europe rose early on after a key gauge of Chinese manufacturing activity rose to a seven-month high. The Chinese HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) improved from 50.2 to 50.9 in October, ahead of the consensus forecast for 50.4.

“China’s growth recovery is becoming consolidated into the fourth quarter following the bottoming out in the third quarter” said HSBC economist Qu Hongbin. “This momentum is likely to continue in the coming months, creating favourable conditions for speeding up structural reforms.”

PMI’s from the Eurozone and the US are due out later on today, along with initial weekly jobless claims in the the States.

Sports Direct drops as founder trims stake

Sports Direct, the High Street retailer which impressed the market with its first-half trading update yesterday, sunk sharply after revealing today that MASH Holdings, a company wholly owned by founder and Deputy Chairman Mike Ashley, sold 16m shares in the company at 662.5p each, equal to a 2.7% stake. The £106m sale reduced MASH’s holding to 61.7%.

Advertising giant WPP advanced after reporting a 7.2% rise in revenue to £8.2bn pounds in the first nine months on the back of acquisitions and new business wins.

Power systems group Rolls-Royce rose after winning a contract for the supply of thrusters and deck machinery for use in drilling offshore Korea.

Consumer products giant Unilever sunk early on after the firm reported underlying sales growth of 3.2% during the third quarter, well below the 5% growth seen in the first half after a slowdown in emerging-market growth.

Copper miner Kazakhmys gained after saying that copper cathode equivalent output is on track to meet the upper-end of guidance after a decent third quarter.

Source: ShareCast