London - European shares climbed to a three-week high on Tuesday, extending the previous session's rally, on expectations that Greece was getting closer to a debt deal with its international creditors.
Greece's ATG share index rose 2.6 percent after surging 9 percent in the previous session, while the country's benchmark banking index was up 6.1 percent, extending Monday's rally of nearly 21 percent.
Greece presented new budget proposals that euro zone leaders welcomed as a basis for a possible agreement to unlock frozen aid and avert a looming default.
“Still no Greek deal though, but plenty of optimism that we are edging closer. This comes from experience, with years of similar happenings resulting in deals at the last minute,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was up 1.0 percent at 1,580.74 points by 07h48 GMT after haven risen to a high of 1,582.10, the highest level since early June. The index closed 2.4 percent stronger in the previous session.
The euro zone's Euro STOXX 50 rose 0.8 percent to a three-week high. It gained 4.1 percent on Monday, its biggest one-day percentage rise since August 2012.
However, the euro fell on Tuesday as traders eyed a range of still-formidable political barriers to a Greek debt agreement this week, and as the dollar strengthened.
Among individual movers, British business supplies distributor Bunzl fell 1.8 percent after it said organic growth slowed in the first half of its financial year due to some lost business and price declines on plastic resin-based products in North America.
Numericable-SFR fell 2.3 percent after France's economy minister said Altice's bid for Bouygues Telecom risked creating an operator that is “too big to fail” and that could threaten jobs, hardening his government's opposition. Altice is the majority owner of Numericable-SFR, France's second-biggest telecom operator.
Shares in British bookmaker Ladbrokes jumped by more than 10 percent, meanwhile, after the company confirmed it was in merger talks with privately owned Gala Coral Group.
Reuters