European stocks climbed amid signs of stronger growth in China and Japan and as euro-area leaders edged toward agreeing on a strategy to help contain the debt crisis. Asian shares and U.S. futures also rallied. BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto Group both jumped more than 3 percent as base metals surged. TomTom NV (TOM2) soared 22 percent after reporting better-than-estimated net income. Nobel Biocare Holding AG (NOBN) surged 7.1 percent following a report that buyout firms are looking at the company. The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.5 percent to 240.12 at 8:31 a.m. in London, its second day of gains, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index jumped 2.6 percent and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in December gained 0.3 percent. “Optimism amongst traders over the European summit grows and overnight data from Asia shows an encouraging rebound,” said Jonathan Sudaria, a trader at London Capital Group, in an e-mailed comment. “No new details from the European summit came out over the weekend, but lots of reports of ‘progress’ from policy makers have been interpreted as positives.” Leaders at yesterday’s summit in Brussels ruled out tapping the European Central Bank’s balance sheet to boost the euro area’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, and excluded a forced restructuring of Greece’s debt. The politicians looked at strengthening the International Monetary Fund’s role and outlined plans to aid banks. Euro-Area Summit The complete blueprint for the rescue fund won’t come together until a summit in two days. Like yesterday, it will start with all 27 European Union leaders before the 17 heads of the euro-area economies gather on their own. The Stoxx 600 has rallied for four consecutive weeks, its longest stretch of weekly gains since December, as investors speculated leaders will find a solution to Europe’s debt crisis that has Greece teetering on the edge of a default. The gauge has still tumbled 17 percent from this year’s high on Feb. 18. Stocks rallied in Asia today and U.S. futures erased earlier losses after a report showed that China’s manufacturing may expand in October for the first time in four months, snapping the longest contraction since 2009. A separate release showed Japan’s exports increased in September more than economists had forecast. BHP, the world’s largest mining company, rallied 3.4 percent to 1,961 pence, while Rio Tinto, the second biggest, advanced 4.2 percent to 3,283 pence as copper led metal prices higher on the London Metal Exchange. TomTom jumped 22 percent to 3.72 euros after Europe’s biggest maker of portable-navigation devices reported third- quarter net income of 28.9 million euros ($40 million). That beat the average analyst estimate for 15.9 million euros of profit in a Bloomberg survey. Nobel Biocare Nobel Biocare gained 7.1 percent to 10.65 Swiss francs after NZZ am Sonntag reported that EQT Partners AB and Bain Capital LLC are considering buying the dental-implant maker. The newspaper cited two unidentified sources. EQT, a Stockholm-based private equity company, has looked at Nobel Biocare as a takeover target “for some time,” NZZ reported. Bain, a U.S. buyout fund manager, has been assessing for “several months” whether the company is a “buy” or the shares will fall further, according to the report. “We have had no contact and are in no discussions with anyone,” said Nicolas Weidmann, a spokesman for Nobel Biocare. Swatch Group AG (UHR) climbed 3 percent to 367.20 francs after NZZ also reported that the company’s sales this year will “clearly exceed” 7 billion Swiss francs ($7.9 billion), while growth adjusted for currency swings may reach 9 percent to 11 percent in 2012. The newspaper cited Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek. Hayek called September the watchmaker’s strongest-ever month, according to the report. The company has never had such a large order backlog, NZZ said, citing Hayek. To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Jones in London at sjones35@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Rummer at arummer@bloomberg.net

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