Europe Shares Open Higher Ahead of Spanish Auction

European shares moved higher on Thursday morning ahead of a key bond auction in Spain and testimony to Congress from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (XX:SXXP) +0.45% traded 0.2% higher at 240.40 with banks lending most of the support. Swedish Nordea Bank AB (SE:NDASEK) +3.73% rose 4.3%, while Swedbank AB (SE:SWEDA) +3.20% moved 3% higher.

In Spain, BBVA SA (ES:BBVA) +3.08% BBVA +4.79%added 1.9% and Banco Santander SA (ES:SAN) +2.83% STD +4.22% gained 2.6%, helping lift the IBEX 35 index (XX:IBEX) +1.23% 0.8% to 7,534.60.

In France, Alcatel-Lucent (FR:ALU) +2.01% ALU +5.33% moved 2.8% higher, while STMicroelectronics NV (FR:STM) +1.17%STM +3.16% rose 1.8%.

The CAC 40 index (FR:PX1) +0.64% gained 0.8% to at 3,082.91, further buoyed by Societe Generale SA (FR:GLE) +1.33% up 1.7% and BNP Paribas SA (FR:BNP) +1.14% 1.6% higher.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX) +0.47% ticked 0.5% higher to 5,410.44, with Barclays PLC (UK:BARC) +1.62% BCS +8.03% up 1.7% .

In Germany, HeidelbergCement AG (DE:HEI) +0.86% gained 1.6%, while Deutsche Boerse AG (DE:DB1) +1.17% added 2.2%.