Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

European stocks climbed for a sixth day, extending a record as Alcatel-Lucent and commodity producers gained.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.2 percent to 414.48 at 8:41 a.m. in London. Stocks climbed on Monday, with Spanish equities jumping to their highest levels since January 2010. This year’s 21 percent rally for the Stoxx 600 has pushed equity valuations to the highest in at least a decade.

Alcatel-Lucent SA jumped 12 percent and Nokia Oyj dropped 6.2 percent. The companies confirmed they are in talks for a full combination via a public exchange offer by Nokia for Alcatel.

A gauge of commodity producers posted the best performance of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx 600. Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. led the advance, with gains of more than 1.4 percent.

A measure of energy companies rose for a sixth day. Oil advanced for a fourth day after the U.S. government predicted that the shale boom that’s swelled the nation’s production to a record is slowing.

Kuehne & Nagel International AG slipped 2.7 percent. The world’s biggest sea-freight forwarder posted unchanged first- quarter earnings from a year earlier because of the Swiss franc’s appreciation, missing analyst forecasts for growth.

Investors will also watch economic data today for clues as to the strength of the euro-area economy. A measure of industrial output rose in February at the fastest pace in five months, according to economist forecasts.