The FINANCIAL — European shares opened higher as they rebounded from a sharp drop last week, their worst weekly fall in four months, according to Borsa Italiana.
The region’s stock markets hovered near all-time highs as China’s easing move helped lift sentiment. China’s central bank said during the weekend it cut the level of funds that commercial banks were required to hold in reserve by 1 percentage point, the second such move this year in a bid to boost lending. The cut comes as the country posted its worst quarterly growth in six years.
Investors also digested a new string of corporate news and trading updates released by European listed companies, including Belgian telecoms firm Telenet, UK oilfield services firm Petrofac, UK retailer Tesco and Sika, a Swiss producer of speciality chemicals for construction and industry.
On April 17 European shares closed sharply lower as a deadlock continued in negotiations over Greece’s bailout and concerns that the Southern European country could declare a debt default as early as this week weighed on investor sentiment. Disappointing consumer prices data across the European Union also weighed.
Today at 0717 GMT the London FTSE 100 was up 0.60% at 7,036 points, the Frankfurt DAX rose 0.30% at 11,726 points, the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.58% at 5,173 points, in Milan the FTSE MIB climbed 0.55% at 23,171 points while in Madrid the IBEX 35 was up 0.36% at 11,400 points.
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