Europe open: Shares in strong start as UBS shines on return to profit

(Sharecast News) - European markets made a bright start to Tuesday amid more earnings reports with UBS shares up on strong first-quarter results. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index opened 0.6% higher at 511.32.

In economic news, Germany reported an unexpected 0.9% rise in exports in March compared with the previous month, according to official data.

The figure beat expectations of a 0.4% increase and was also 1.2% higher year on year. Imports rose 0.3% to €111.9bn and were down 3.0% on the same month a year earlier.

In March, Europe's largest economy saw increases in exports to EU member states and third countries, by 0.5% and 1.3% respectively.

In a separate release, the Federal Statistics Office reported an unexpected decline in industrial orders in March, which fell by 0.4% on the previous month.

In equity news, Swiss banking giant UBS beat expectations as it returned to a quarterly net profit after two successive losses.

German software developer TeamViewer posted first-quarter revenue slightly below market expectations, sending its shares down nearly 4% in early trade.

BP reported a fall in first-quarter profit on the back of lower oil and gas prices, an outage at a US refinery and "significantly weaker" fuels margins as it also started a $1.75bn share buyback.