On Wednesday European stocks advanced amid speculation that euro-area leaders will agree on enhanced bailout measures for indebted nations and stricter rules for budget control at a summit this week. U.S. index futures and Asian shares also rose.

Banks paced gains with Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA increasing at least 1.9 percent.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.5 percent in London, its third increase in four days. The gauge slipped 0.3 percent on Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s put 15 euro-area nations on credit-rating review.

The Financial Times reported that officials are negotiating a bigger rescue effort to discuss at the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, including running two separate bailout funds simultaneously. That means the European Financial Stability Facility, the current bailout fund, will not be wound up when the European Stability Mechanism starts next year, the FT said. Enhancing support from the International Monetary Fund is also among measures to be discussed at the meeting.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will push for rewriting EU treaties to tighten control of national budgets. This move won the backing of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, who urged governments to work with central banks to erect a “stronger firewall” to end the debt crisis.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos received parliamentary approval for the 2012 budget, a financial plan that aims to nearly halve the deficit shortfall from a debt writedown and ensure Greece remains a member of the euro area.

Japanese stocks rose, sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to a one-month high, on speculation European leaders will step up efforts to fight the debt crisis at the summit on Thursday. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.7 percent while the Topix advanced 1.6 percent.