European stocks edged higher at the open on Thursday, boosted by expectations the Federal Reserve would continue to support the U.S. economy and by data showing a pick-up in Chinese factory activity. Mergers and acquisitions activity once again coloured European trading, with British American Tobacco among biggest contributors to pan-European indexes on news it could back a potential merger between Reynolds American and orillard.At 0711 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.2 percent to 1,367.55 points.Minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting reassured investors that policy makers would stick to their easy monetary policy stance.Sentiment on risk assets was further boosted by a private survey showing China's factory sector turned in its best performance in five months in May, confounding some of the more bearish on the world's second-biggest economy and top consumer of metals.
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) is a holding company. Shares of RAI traded higher by 4.38% or $2.51/share to $59.77. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $46.05 and as high as $60.00. On average, 2897080 shares of RAI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 4711580.
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