European equities advanced in early trade Wednesday, as investors hoped for a near-term resolution to the Greece debt crisis ahead of a key parliament vote on austerity measures required for emergency funds.
At the time of writing, Britain's FTSE, France's CAC and Germany's DAX were trading about 0.8% higher each.
Financials stocks were among the gainers with Barclays, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale adding between 1% and 1.5%.
While mining stocks, too, witnessed buying: BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Anglo American climbed 1.2% to 2%.
In news-driven movers, shares of insurer Allianz SE rose 2.1% following a broker upgrade. While Glencore International Plc gained 1.6% after several brokerage firms initiated coverage over the company.