European stock markets pushed higher today, on the back of bright Chinese economic data and a modest recovery in oil prices, dealers said.
Frankfurt, London and Paris indices rallied after a broadly positive session in Asia, buoyed by upbeat Chinese trade data that gave some respite from a volatile start to 2016.
A slight rebound in oil prices also provided another boost, having collapsed underneath USD 30 yesterday for the first time in twelve years on global crude oversupply.
In foreign exchange activity, the European single currency retreated to USD 1.0817.
"European equity markets are trading higher... On the back of better than expected Chinese trade data," said analyst Markus Huber at traders City of London Markets.
"There is quite some relief that both imports and exports fell substantially less than expected which for some is providing an indication that the state of the Chinese economy is less concerning than feared."
After more than a week of sharp equity losses fuelled by worries over China's economy, news that the country's exports had picked up in December provided some incentive to buy.
The rise in Chinese overseas shipments, from a fall in November, indicated authorities' weakening of the yuan currency against the dollar was beginning to filter through.
The figures came against a backdrop of contracting global trade last year, meaning China's export performance was relatively strong.
However, Frederic Neumann, co-chief Asia economist at global banking giant HSBC, sounded a note of caution.
"A bit of relief here that the Chinese export engine has not entirely started to throttle back - but if you look at leading indicators, they actually suggest that new exports orders are continue to contract (and) those orders placed with Chinese companies continue to weaken," Neumann told AFP.
"So going into 2016, it doesn't look as if Chinese exports will be a growth engine for China."
He added: "We don't think exports are going to improve much from here. We still know that in Europe things are fairly weak.
"We know that the US economy is not really accelerating but most importantly emerging markets continue to suffer and that's where China sends a lot of its products."
While the positive news sent Shanghai stocks higher initially, they ended today 2.4 per cent in the red again having already slumped almost 15 per cent this year.
However, Hong Kong ended up 1.1 per cent and Sydney, where several firms with strong trade links with China are listed, closed 1.3 per cent higher.
And Tokyo finally ended on a positive note after dropping for six straight sessions, gaining 2.9 per cent.
