European stocks rose today, lifted by mining and commodities giant Glencore after it pledged to slash its debt by a third, and countering a fall in Asian markets led by weakness in China following a four-day break there.
Trading is lighter than usual with US markets closed for Labor Day, while investors across all asset classes continued to digest the implications of last week's US jobs data for the timing of the first U.S. interest rate hike since 2006.
At midday the FTSEuroFirst index of leading 300 shares was up 0.4 percent at 1,398 points and Britain's mining-heavy FTSE 100 index was up 0.4 percent at 6,063 points.
In Asia, the Nikkei share average rose 0.4 percent to close at 17,860.47, though it threatened to erase its year-to-date gains in early trade.
Trading volume was light for most of the day, but picked up during late afternoon trading. Decliners outnumbered gainers by 1060 to 724, highlighting weak market sentiment.
Auto makers with exposure to the U.S. outperformed, helped in part by a steadily weakening yen. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. each gained 1.2 percent.
Toshiba Corp. shares gained 1.8 percent after the electronics conglomerate released its twice-delayed earnings for the last fiscal year, easing fears that the company might miss its deadline and have its stock placed on a watch list.
Nippon Kayaku shares soared 12 percent after reports the company may be ready to request government approval to sell its new cancer treatment as early as next spring.
The broader Topix edged up 0.1 percent to 1,445.65, but was weighed down by its real estate subindex which lost 1.3 percent. Heiwa Real Estate plunged 13.9 percent after Friday's announcement that it would lose its place on the Nikkei 225 index effective October 1.
