European stock markets headed for a fifth straight day of gains on Tuesday as investors waited for Janet Yellen to give her first testimony as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman later in the day.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.7% to 327.60, on track for the highest closing level in almost three weeks.
In Europe, Germany’s DAX 30 index rallied 1.1%. Car makers helped lift the German benchmark, after BMW AG, up 1.7%, said car deliveries rose 7.8% in January. Daimler AG gained 2%, and Volkswagen AG put on 1.1%.
France’s CAC 40 index rose 0.7% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.8%.
The British Retail Consortium said like-for-like retail sales jumped 3.9% from a year earlier after increasing 0.4% in December. Economists forecast an increase of 0.8%.
Swiss food group Nestle SA said Tuesday that it will sell an 8% stake that it owns in L’Oreal SA back to the French cosmetics group in a deal worth around 6.5 billion euros ($8.88 billion). The deal will cut Nestle’s stake in L’Oreal to 23.29% from 29.4%. Shares of Nestle fell 0.3%, while L’Oreal shares rose over 2%.
Lagardere SCA rose 3.5% after the media company said it expects to post better-than-anticipated profit growth for 2013, even as sales were dragged lower by a firmer euro.
On a more downbeat note, shares of Barclays PLC dropped 1.3% after the U.K. bank said it plans to cut up to 12,000 jobs.
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