July 27 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose for a sixth day as UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG reported earnings that beat estimates and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision softened some of its proposed capital and liquidity rules. Asian shares and U.S. index futures advanced.

UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, surged 6.6 percent after reporting a third consecutive quarterly profit. Deutsche Bank climbed 2 percent as Germany’s largest bank said second-quarter net income rose. SAP fell 1.6 percent as the world’s biggest maker of business-management software said software and related services sales rose 16 percent.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.2 percent to 257.6 at 8:23 a.m. in London. The gauge has still retreated 5.3 percent from this year’s high on April 15 amid concern that austerity measures from indebted European governments will harm the economic recovery.

“There are definitely growing rumblings that Europe is far from the basket case many were suggesting it was just a few months back and that it won’t be long before market skeptics start ‘chasing the market’ for fear of missing out on an end-of- year rally,” said Cameron Peacock, a market analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.2 percent before reports on home prices and consumer confidence.

U.S. Stocks

U.S. shares rose yesterday after FedEx Corp. boosted its profit forecast and a report showing improved new-home sales eased concern about the economy. The rally erased the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 2010 loss and carried the S&P 500 above its 200-day average, spurring optimism among chart analysts and investors who track earnings.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision softened some of its proposed capital and liquidity rules while introducing new restrictions on how much lenders can borrow in order to rein in their risk-taking.

The panel agreed yesterday to allow certain assets, including minority stakes in other financial firms, to count as capital, according to a statement. The committee set a leverage ratio to apply to banks globally for the first time, which could become binding by 2018, pending further adjustments to the method of calculating banks’ assets.

UBS rallied 6.6 percent to 16.73 Swiss francs. The bank reported net income of 2.01 billion francs ($1.91 billion), after a net loss of 1.4 billion francs a year earlier. That beat the 1.12 billion-franc median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank advanced 2 percent to 51.38 euros. Second- quarter net income increased 6.4 percent to 1.16 billion euros as gains in retail and transaction banking helped offset a decline in sales and trading. That beat analysts’ estimate of 1.05 billion euros.

SAP slid 1.6 percent to 36.69 euros after reporting second- quarter net income of 491 million euros. Analysts had forecast profit at 525 million euros, the average of 15 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Danone SA fell 1.7 percent to 45.53 euros even after the world’s biggest yogurt maker reported higher profit in the first half as it sold more Aqua water and Activia yogurt in markets such as Indonesia and China.

A report today may show home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in May from a year earlier as a government tax credit temporarily underpinned sales. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values, due at 9 a.m. New York time, increased 3.9 percent from May 2009, according to the median of 26 economist projections in a Bloomberg News survey.

At 10 a.m., a report from the Conference Board, a New York- based research group, may show its consumer confidence index fell to a five-month low of 51 in July, according to the survey median.