Banking and insurance stocks led European share markets higher on Tuesday, fuelled by hopes that European policymakers are at last putting together an action plan to tackle the euro zone debt crisis. Share prices extended gains made on Monday, getting a further boost from officials at the European Central Bank saying they were keeping options for a rate cut open and signalled that the bank could start offering 12-month, limit-free loans to banks again. Financial sector stocks were among the top gainers, with the STOXX Europe 600 banking index up 4.5 percent and the insurance sector index up 5.4 percent. The ... (full story)