Europe's main stock markets opened cautiously higher on Wednesday, following Wall Street's positive close and on the eve of monthly US consumer price figures.

In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.26% to 6,887.10 points around 08:50 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.26% and in Frankfurt, the Dax advanced by 0.27%.

The EuroStoxx 50 index was up by 0.32%, the FTSEurofirst 300 by 0.09% and the Stoxx 600 by 0.16%.

Wall Street ended Tuesday up 0.5% to 1% after the Federal Reserve Chairman's silence on monetary policy at a meeting of central bankers in Sweden.

Investors had feared that Jerome Powell would follow in the footsteps of Mary Daly and Raphael Bostic, two Fed officials who spoke out earlier this week on the need to raise interest rates above 5% for some time in order to curb inflation.

The markets now have their sights set on Thursday's release of the December US consumer price index, which should show a more measured pace of inflation.

Most traders expect the Fed to decide on a 25bp rate hike at its February meeting.

On the stock market, LVMH advanced 1% following the announcement of the appointment of Pietro Beccari as CEO of Louis Vuitton and Delphine Arnault as head of Christian Dior Couture.



Eurofins Scientific , the CAC 40's red lantern, dropped 3.84% after Deutsche Bank downgraded its shares to "sell" and Jefferies to "underperform".

Elsewhere in Europe, Bayer gained 2.00% after Bloomberg reported that activist fund Bluebell had taken a stake in the German group and was pushing for its break-up.

In London, JD Sports gained 5.32% after raising its annual profit forecast, while Sainsbury's dropped 2.32% following its results and forecasts. (Laetitia Volga, edited by Kate Entringer)