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By Bloomberg

Energy producers led European stocks above a record close as Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to buy BG Group Plc in the biggest oil and gas deal in at least a decade. The dollar weakened before the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its March meeting.

Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.3 percent at 10:02 a.m. in London, after climbing to 405.73, surpassing a record close in 2000. A gauge of energy shares climbed 5.3 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures rose 0.2 percent. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.4 percent. Chinese shares in Hong Kong jumped the most since 2011 as trading resumed after a holiday. Oil fell, ending a two-day rally.

Shell’s acquisition of BG for about 47 billion pounds ($70 billion) in cash and shares follows a slump in oil prices as energy companies look to cut costs and restore profits. Minutes of the Fed’s March meeting may offer insight on the timing of U.S. rate rises, after the Bank of Japan maintained its record stimulus Wednesday and the European Central Bank entered its second month of quantitative easing.

“On first sight, the Shell-BG deal looks rather expensive, but M&A is normally quite good for sentiment,” said Christian Zogg, who manages the equivalent of about $10 billion at LLB Asset Management AG in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. “QE is working for the moment.”

Energy producers jumped for a second day, heading for their biggest daily advance since 2009. BG surged 37 percent after Shell agreed to pay a premium of about 50 percent on BG’s closing share price on Tuesday. Shell dropped 2.7 percent. BP Plc climbed 2.7 percent and Total SA advanced 1.2 percent.

BG Bonds

BG’s 800 million euros of 2.25 percent notes due November 2029 jumped as much as 3.3 cents on the euro to a record 112 cents, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its 775 million euros of 1.25 percent securities maturing in November 2022 rose as much as 1.5 cents to 103 cents, also a record, the data show

Automakers fell, with PSA Peugeot Citroen down 2 percent and Renault SA losing 0.9 percent. The French state is raising its stake in Renault to protect voting rights.

The DAX Index slipped 0.2 percent after German factory orders unexpectedly fell for a second month in February.

S&P 500 E-mini futures expiring in June rose after the index halted a two-day gain on Tuesday.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index advanced for an eight day, the longest rally since August, with the gauge climbing 1.4 percent to the highest since September.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index jumped 5.2 percent after a three-day holiday, tracking advances in mainland equities. The Shanghai Composite Index rose to a level that was more than double its 2014 low, and surpassed 4,000 points for the first time since 2008.

Mobius Caution

China needs strong support from the stock market as its economy faces relatively large pressure this year, the official Xinhua News Agency said in an article Tuesday.

“It has gone a little too far and too fast,” Mark Mobius, who oversees about $40 billion as the executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, told reporters in Hong Kong. A 20 percent retreat is “very possible,” he said.

Russia’s ruble gained for a sixth day, advancing 2.2 percent to the strongest level this year before the government holds its biggest debt auction in more than a year. The Micex slid 0.9 percent while the dollar-denominated RTS Index gained 0.3 percent.

The dollar weakened against 13 of its 16 major counterparts, falling most versus the New Zealand dollar and the Norwegian krone. The U.S. currency depreciated 0.4 percent to $1.0858 per euro, after a 1 percent rally on Tuesday.

QE Data

The dollar slipped 0.3 percent to 119.92 yen after the Bank of Japan maintained its record stimulus Wednesday.

Euro-area government bonds rose, led by longer-maturity debt from the region’s so-called core nations, including Germany, whose 30-year bund yield fell two basis points to 0.65 percent.

Data released by the ECB on Tuesday showed the average maturity of German bonds bought in the first month of its quantitative-easing plan was 8.1 years, compared with 11.7 years for Spanish debt. That may imply a reluctance among investors to sell the longer-dated core securities at current levels, potentially driving up their prices, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc analysts wrote in a research report.

Treasuries were little changed, with the 10-year note yield at 1.89 percent, before an auction of $21 billion of the securities.

Speculation the Federal Reserve will be slow to raise interest rates fueled demand for three-year notes sold on Tuesday even at the lowest auction yield since March 2014. Indirect bidders, a group of investors including foreign central banks, purchased almost half of the $24 billion in debt sold, the second highest level in five years.

Oil Stockpiles

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.3 percent to $52.74 a barrel in New York, ending the biggest two-day rally since February. Brent crude dropped 1.5 percent to $58.23.

Oil prices could tumble $15 a barrel next year if sanctions are lifted following a final nuclear deal with Iran, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report Tuesday. U.S. crude stockpiles probably rose for the 13th week to the highest since at least 1982, a Bloomberg survey showed before a report Wednesday from the EIA.

Saudi Arabia increased oil production to 10.3 million barrels a day in March, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said Tuesday. That would be the highest in at least 12 years, according to data from the Riyadh-based Joint Organisations Data Initiative.