Euro, stocks rise; Greek assets hit

European shares gained on Tuesday after UK bank Barclays beat profit forecasts, and the euro rose against the dollar with European finance ministers putting pressure on Greece to resolve its fiscal problems.

Borrowing costs for Greece and other peripheral euro zone countries rose, however.

Oil and metal prices advanced, supported by a weaker U.S. currency, while investors showed more appetite for riskier assets.

World stocks measured in MSCI All-Country World Index put on 0.4 percent, backed by gains in Europe.

Europe's FTSEurofirst 300 rose 0.5 percent, with banks the leading risers as Barclays said it had started the year well after beating expectations with 2009 profits of over $18 billion. The bank's shares soared 7.3 percent.

U.S. stock index futures rose 0.3-0.6 percent, indicating a firmer start for Wall Street.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average put on 0.2 percent.

The euro was up 0.4 percent at $1.3648 as euro zone states urged Athens to make a greater effort to deal with its fiscal problems, prompting short-term players to trim their short positions.

The single currency was also helped after Germany's ZEW index of analyst and investor sentiment fell less sharply than expected in February, suggesting Europe's largest economy may be more resilient than recent bearish GDP data had suggested.

However, concerns that Greece's debt problems will not be resolved quickly kept sentiment towards the euro broadly negative and traders said it remained vulnerable to further falls.

"The (ZEW) outturn was not as bad as expected, the index remains above its long-run average and the fact that it is still in positive territory means that investors see conditions improving," said Jennifer McKeown, senior economist at Capital Economics.