London--Feb. 6--European equity markets nudged ahead, helped by a solid opening on Wall Street and hopes for a cut in U.K. interest rates later this week. Trading activity was subdued, however, as most investors marked time before a flurry of corporate results later this week. The U.K.'s FTSE-100 index closed up 24.2, or 0.39%, at 6293.4, while Germany's Xetra DAX-30 was up 52.23, or 0.78%, at 6680.