European shares touched a three-week high on Wednesday, after the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve suggested it was closer to introducing fresh stimuli to the economy.
Technology shares featured among the top performers after Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, forecast strong fourth-quarter sales and margins.
Profit beating results from Dutch chip-equipment maker ASML , which has Intel as one of its biggest customers also buoyed sentiment in the sector. ASML rose 2.5 percent, while semiconductor peers ARM Holdings, Infineon and STMicroelectronics gained 1.7 to 3.4 percent.
By 0853 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was 1 percent higher at 1,082.26 points after being up as much as 1,083.23 – its highest level in three weeks.
The Euro STOXX 50, the euro zone's blue-chip index, rose 1.5 percent to 2,816.63 points, jumping above the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level of the index's fall from an April high to a May low at 2,805.95 points after being below it for the previous three sessions.
"As long as corporate results beat expectations the markets will go higher," Ben Critchley, a sales trader at IG Index said.
"But, now the question is how the Fed is going to do quantitative easing, is it going to be all in one big shot or month by month."
Minutes of the Fed's Sept. 21 meeting, released on Tuesday after European markets closed, showed officials thought the struggling U.S. recovery might soon need more help and they discussed several ways to provide it, including possible adoption of a price-level target and buying more longer-term U.S. government debt.
Speaking in New York late on Tuesday, ECB Governing Council member Axel Weber said "a normalisation of key interest rates could in principle start before the phasing out of non-standard measures has been finished."
FRESNILLO GAINS
Miners were in demand as metal prices gained on expectations of U.S. stimulus measures. Mexican precious metals miner Fresnillo rose 3.7 percent after it said its silver and gold production rose to a record in the third quarter.
European oil services firms rallied after Washington lifted its ban on deepwater drilling seven weeks ahead of schedule.
CGG Veritas, TGS Nopec, Petroleum Geo-Services, Petrofac, Seadrill, Transocean and Technip were 2.2 percent to 10.7 percent.
"This is an excellent news for the sector, especially for CGG Veritas stock which has lost 40 percent over the last six months," a Paris-based trader said.
However, Standard Chartered slipped 3.3 percent after it said it planned to raise 3.3 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) through a rights offering to raise its capital adequacy ratio.
Barclays was also pressured, down 3 percent, on the back of its rival's rights issue, with three traders saying the bank may need to raise 7 billion to 8 billion pounds based on what StanChart have done.
Valuations on the STOXX Europe 600 looked cheap. Its one-year forward price-to-earnings stood at about 10.32 against a 10-year average of 13.51, Thomson Reuters Datastream showed.
Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was 1.2 percent higher, Germany's DAX was up 1.4 percent and France's CAC 40 rose 1.5 percent.
