Investing.com - European stocks rallied on Monday, as fresh hopes that Hillary Clinton will win the U.S. presidential election this week boosted market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 1.25%, France’s CAC 40 surged 1.41%, while Germany’s DAX 30 jumped 1.37%.
Recent opinion polls have pointed to an increasingly uncertain outcome for the U.S. presidential election.
However, hopes for a Clinton win mounted after the FBI informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by the Democratic candidate.
Financial stocks were sharply higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PA:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) surged 2.53% and 2.29%, while Germany’s Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) jumped 2.38% and 2.50%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (MI:ISP) and Unicredit (MI:CRDI) rallied 2.63% and 3.86% respectively, while Spanish banks Banco Santander (MC:SAN) and BBVA (MC:BBVA) soared 2.43% and 3.21%.
Lufthansa AG VNA O.N. (DE:LHAG) added to gains, with shares up 2.40% after the German airline company vowed to fight back against Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:RYA)'s plans for its first-ever flights from Frankfurt.
French car maker Renault (PA:RENA) saw shares advance 2.40% after Pakistan's government said late last week that the company is planning to invest in a local assembly plant with first production due to start by 2018.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 jumped 1.32%, boosted by sharp gains in the mining sector.
Shares in Glencore (LON:GLEN) climbed 2.65% and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) rallied 2.77%, while Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) surged 3.10% and 3.30% respectively.
Financial stocks were also broadly higher, as Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) rose 0.27% and the Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) climbed 1.05%, while Barclays (LON:BARC) jumped 1.54% and HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) soared 4.35%.
HSBC gained ground despite reporting a 86% drop in third-quarter pretax profit on Monday.
On the downside, shares in Tesco (LON:TSCO) tumbled 1.67% as Tesco Bank said it had halted online payments for current account customers after money was taken from 20,000 accounts.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a sharply higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 1.30% jump, S&P 500 futures showed a 1.35% rally, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 1.58% climb.