EU stocks rebound on positive earnings, UBS job cuts

European stock markets and the euro rebounded on Tuesday as investors cheered  positive company earnings and reacted to news of thousands of job cuts at Swiss bank UBS, despite a lull in trading caused by the monster US storm Sandy. London's FTSE 100 index of top companies rose by 0.77 percent to stand at 5,839.53 points in afternoon deals. Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.91 percent to 7,268.50 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 1.31 percent to 3,453.58. Madrid's IBEX 35 jumped 1.18 percent to 7,819.9 points despite data showing that the Spanish economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the third quarter. European stock markets closed lower on Monday awaiting pivotal debt talks on Greece due this week and in thin volume owing to US trading being suspended as Sandy bore down on New York. "Although the US markets remain closed for the second day in a row, courtesy of Sandy, which is not only affecting the trading volumes but also interrupts the presidential election (race) -- European markets experience what, given the circumstances, could be called a rally," said Gekko Global Markets trader Anita Paluch. "The boost comes from the better than expected earnings results reported by heavyweight companies like Deutsche Bank and BP. The UBS news to slash the jobs is also interpreted in a positive way." Shares in UBS rallied 5.34 percent to 13.82 Swiss francs on an index up 0.68 percent overall. The banking giant on Tuesday announced nearly 10,000 job cuts worldwide, saying that the costs of restructuring its hard-hit investment bank had pushed it deep into loss in the third quarter. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank's share price advanced 3.24 percent to 34.60 euros after the German lender announced a better-than-expected performance in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank said in a statement its net profit after minority interests rose by 3.0 percent to 747 million euros ($970 million) in the period from July to September. In London, BP rocketed 4.40 percent to 443.70 pence after better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. In foreign exchange trading on Tuesday, the euro rose to $1.2966 from $1.2900 late in New York on Monday, as traders brushed aside news of rising German unemployment. Gold prices gained to $1,713.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,707 an ounce on Monday. In an additional positive development for the eurozone, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said the country had reached agreement with international creditors on a new wave of austerity measures necessary to unlock new bailout loans it needs by next month to avoid bankruptcy. Tokyo's stock market closed lower on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan announced monetary easing that was only slightly bigger than market forecasts and cut its growth outlook. Just before the Tokyo market closed down 0.98 percent, the central bank said it would add another 11 trillion yen ($138 billion) to its 80 trillion asset purchase scheme to provide liquidity to the economy and jumpstart growth. It also said it expected the economy to grow just 1.5 percent in the year to March, instead of the 2.2 percent previously predicted. Expectations of new easing had sent markets higher in recent weeks, while the yen had suffered a sell-off.