Europe: Shares rebound from lowest since '13, Deutsche Bank jumps

[FRANKFURT] European stocks rebounded from their lowest level since October 2013 as investors assessed valuations following seven days of declines.

A measure of lenders posted the best performance of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, with Deutsche Bank AG jumping 14 per cent as a person familiar with the matter said the German bank is considering buying back some of its debt.

Commerzbank AG climbed 7.4 per cent. Greece's Eurobank Ergasias SA recovered 7.6 per cent after falling to its lowest since at least 1999 on Tuesday, and Italy's UniCredit SpA gained 10 per cent.

The Stoxx 600 advanced 2.2 per cent to 316.08 at 9:59 am in London, moving out of so-called "oversold" territory. Global equities have been battered in 2016 in volatile trading amid investor concern over oil prices, earnings, the strength of the US and Chinese economies, as well as the creditworthiness of European banks.

The Stoxx 600 now trades at 14 times estimated earnings, about 20 per cent below its April 2015 peak.

"When it feels this bad, it's usually a good buying opportunity," said Kevin Lilley, who manages European equities at Old Mutual Global Investors in London. His firm oversees about US$32 billion.

"But we've just been through a huge crisis of confidence and I think a long-term rebound is still very dependent on central-bank policy and global macro data. You're fighting negative newsflow with very low valuations at the moment, and that's the trade off."

A gauge tracking stock swings fell from its highest in three weeks, although it has still jumped 46 per cent this year. The volume of shares changing hands was 47 per cent higher than the 30-day average.

Among stocks moving on corporate news, Carlsberg A/S gained 4.6 per cent after the brewer reported a smaller-than-projected drop in quarterly profit and forecast higher earnings this year.

Smurfit Kappa Group Plc jumped 14 per cent, the most since May 2009, after saying it's considering changing its UK stock listing to premium from standard, which would potentially allow inclusion in the FTSE UK series of indexes.

Opera Software ASA soared 37 per cent after the Norwegian maker of web browsers agreed to sell itself to a group of Chinese technology companies.

Tullow Oil Plc slipped 7 per cent after reporting a wider-than-expected full-year loss as tumbling crude prices forced the company to record writedowns.

AP Moeller-Maersk A/S fell 3.3 per cent after the shipping company posted an 84 per cent plunge in 2015 profit and wrote down the value of its oil assets.

Telenor ASA slipped 6.6 per cent after saying competition in markets such as Thailand and Malaysia will put pressure on 2016 profitability.

BLOOMBERG