European markets opened higher Thursday after UBS posted its first set of results since the bank completed its takeover of Credit Suisse.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.1% at the start of trading on the final day of the month, with most sectors trading in positive territory. Financial services led gains with a 1.2% uptick, while food and beverages dropped 0.5%.
UBS posted a second-quarter profit of $28.88 billion, well exceeding projections of $12.8 billion made by analysts polled by Reuters. Shares were up 6.3% as markets opened.
The index closed slightly lower Wednesday as investors reacted to economic data out of Germany and Spain. Spain reported flash inflation up 2.6% year on year for August, in line with analyst expectations, while Germany reported a 13.2% drop in imports for the year to July, the sharpest drop since January 1987.
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as China’s factory activity contracted for a fifth straight month in August. U.S. futures were flat Wednesday night after the broad market index notched a fourth-straight positive day.