Europe's main stock markets are expected to open on a stable note on Tuesday, after losses in recent sessions on fears of a prolonged rise in interest rates in the wake of the US jobs report.

According to initial indications, Frankfurt's Dax is set to open up 0.05%, London's FTSE 100 could advance 0.1% and the EuroStoxx 50 index is expected to rise 0.12%.

The session is likely to be dominated by the quarterly results of companies such as BNP Paribas, BP and PepsiCo, although concerns about the trajectory of interest rates, rekindled by the publication on Friday of monthly job creation figures in the United States that were well above expectations, are far from having disappeared.

In this respect, the speech scheduled for 17:40 GMT by Jerome Powell, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), at an event organized by the Economic Club of Washington, is particularly eagerly awaited, in the absence of any major economic indicators this week.

"Equities have had a strong run since the start of the year, so to see the emergence of an air pocket now is not a major surprise," Kerry Craig, market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, told Reuters.

"It's a quiet week for economic data globally, and when it is, uncertainty over interest rates is the dominant theme among investors," he added.

STOCKS TO WATCH IN EUROPE:

BNP Paribas reported below-expectations fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, but raised several financial targets to 2025.

ON WALL STREET

The New York Stock Exchange closed lower on Monday, as investors gauged the possibility that the Fed might take longer than expected to begin cutting interest rates.

The Dow Jones fell 35.85 points (-0.11%) to 33,890.16, the S&P 500 lost 25.44 points (-0.62%) to 4,111.04 and the Nasdaq Composite gave up 119.51 points (-1%), to 11,887.45.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic told Bloomberg that the monthly jobs report "probably means we still have some work to do".

ASIA

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei index ended Tuesday down 0.03% at 27,685.47 points, while the broader Topix advanced 0.21% to 1,983.4 points.

In China, the Shanghai SSE Composite nibbled away 0.03% and the CSI 300 gave up 0.05%.

RATES

In Asian trading, the yield on ten-year US Treasury bonds stood at 3.61%, compared with a Wall Street close of 3.63% on Monday. The two-year bond, the most sensitive to rate movements, was trading at 4.42% versus 4.45% the previous day in the US.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar fell by 0.19% against a basket of international currencies, but remained well above its recent low of 101.55 points reached on February 3.

The euro edged up to $1.0741 (+0.1%).

OIL

Oil prices rose in response to concerns about supplies following the powerful earthquake in Turkey, with a major export terminal in the country forced to close.

Brent crude gained 1.32% to $82.06 a barrel, while US light crude (West Texas Intermediate, WTI) gained 1.44% to $75.18.

(Written by Claude Chendjou, edited by Bertrand Boucey)

by Claude Chendjou