Investing.com - European stock markets moved higher on Monday, boosted by better-than-expected business climate data from Germany but concerns over the handling of Spain’s debt woes and further contagion throughout the euro zone limited gains.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 edged up 0.52%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.46%, while Germany’s DAX 30 climbed 0.99%.
The Ifo Institute said earlier that its index of German business confidence inched up to 109.8, from a reading of 109.6 in February. Analysts had expected the index to ease up to 109.7 this month.
But sentiment remained vulnerable after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned over the weekend that the threat of contagion from Spain could cause the debt crisis in the euro zone to flare up again.
On Friday, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is due to announce EUR40 billion in budget cuts, as he attempts to slash the country’s deficit in the face of a looming recession.
Lundin Petroleum was one of the top gainers, rallying 3.98% after a well appraisal confirmed a previous find at its Johan Sverdrup Well off the coast of Norway.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche also saw shares gain 0.54% after extending its USD5.7 billion hostile takeover offer for Illumina Inc. for a second time, setting up a showdown next month at the annual meeting of the U.S. maker of gene-mapping tools.
On the downside, financial stocks remained broadly lower, led by Spanish lender BBVA whose shares plummeted 2.10% and Banco Santander, down 1.92%.
France’s BNP Paribas and Societe Generale also contributed to losses, tumbling 1.20% and 1.38% respectively, while German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank slumped 0.04% and 0.87%.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.62%, boosted by strong gains in energy stocks.
Shares in Tullow Oil led gains, soaring 3.29% and International Power jumped 2.28%, while BP and Aggreko, the world’s largest temporary power generation company, advanced 0.77% and 1.23% respectively.
EasyJet soared 7.39% after Europe’s second-biggest airline forecast a first-half pretax loss of GBP110 million to GBP120 million. The company had predicted a loss of GBP140 million to GBP160 million.
However, mining giants Rio Tinto and Bhp Billiton saw shares drop 0.86% and 0.80% respectively, while copper producers also added to losses with Xstrata declining 1.29% and Kazakhmys dropping 0.75%.
Elsewhere, U.K. lenders remained mixed. Barclays saw shares climb 1.60%, while Lloyds Banking, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC Holdings slid 1.35%, 1.28% and 0.49% respectively.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a moderately higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a rise of 0.54%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.59% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.68% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 edged up 0.52%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.46%, while Germany’s DAX 30 climbed 0.99%.
The Ifo Institute said earlier that its index of German business confidence inched up to 109.8, from a reading of 109.6 in February. Analysts had expected the index to ease up to 109.7 this month.
But sentiment remained vulnerable after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti warned over the weekend that the threat of contagion from Spain could cause the debt crisis in the euro zone to flare up again.
On Friday, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is due to announce EUR40 billion in budget cuts, as he attempts to slash the country’s deficit in the face of a looming recession.
Lundin Petroleum was one of the top gainers, rallying 3.98% after a well appraisal confirmed a previous find at its Johan Sverdrup Well off the coast of Norway.
Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche also saw shares gain 0.54% after extending its USD5.7 billion hostile takeover offer for Illumina Inc. for a second time, setting up a showdown next month at the annual meeting of the U.S. maker of gene-mapping tools.
On the downside, financial stocks remained broadly lower, led by Spanish lender BBVA whose shares plummeted 2.10% and Banco Santander, down 1.92%.
France’s BNP Paribas and Societe Generale also contributed to losses, tumbling 1.20% and 1.38% respectively, while German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank slumped 0.04% and 0.87%.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 rose 0.62%, boosted by strong gains in energy stocks.
Shares in Tullow Oil led gains, soaring 3.29% and International Power jumped 2.28%, while BP and Aggreko, the world’s largest temporary power generation company, advanced 0.77% and 1.23% respectively.
EasyJet soared 7.39% after Europe’s second-biggest airline forecast a first-half pretax loss of GBP110 million to GBP120 million. The company had predicted a loss of GBP140 million to GBP160 million.
However, mining giants Rio Tinto and Bhp Billiton saw shares drop 0.86% and 0.80% respectively, while copper producers also added to losses with Xstrata declining 1.29% and Kazakhmys dropping 0.75%.
Elsewhere, U.K. lenders remained mixed. Barclays saw shares climb 1.60%, while Lloyds Banking, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC Holdings slid 1.35%, 1.28% and 0.49% respectively.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a moderately higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a rise of 0.54%, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.59% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.68% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on pending home sales and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was to speak.