European Markets Close Higher Again On Stimulus Hopes

(RTTNews) - European markets ended with strong gains on Monday, with investors picking up stocks, reacting positively to new fiscal measures from China and Germany that aim at boosting economic growth.

Markets now expect more central banks will step up stimulus. Mild optimism about U.S.-China trade negotiations contributed as well to the gains in global stock markets.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 1.14%. Among the major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.02%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 moved up 1.32% and 1.34%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI gained 1%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireleand, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended on buoyant note.

Czech Republic, Denmark, Turkey and Ukraine closed weak.

In the British market, Ocado gained more than 4.5%. Tui, EasyJet, Glencore, DS Smith, J Sainsbury and Antofagasta gained 3 to 4%.

NMC Health, ITV, Whitbread, Marks & Spencer, Anglo American, Phoenix, BP, BT Group, United Utilities, Carnival, Taylor Wimpey and Royal Dutch Shell also moved up sharply.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank gained more than 2.5%. A Spiegel report said that some major investors of the bank want supervisory board chairman Paul Achleitner to step down before his term ends in 2022.

Shares of Commerzbank ended notably higher as longer-term bond yields came off their record lows.

Infineon rallied 3.75%. Fresenius, Bayer, Thyssenkrupp, BASF, HeidelbergCement, Daimler, Volkswagen, Merck, Wirecard, Covestro and Lufthansa gained 1.5 to 3%.

In France, shares of Technip moved up 3.7%. ArcelorMittal gained about 3.6% and STMicroElectronics rallied 3%.

Louis Vuitton, Sodexo, Total, Vinci, Atos, Peugeot, Renault, Accor, L'Oreal and Bouygues gained 1.7 to 2.5%. Societe Generale, Saint Gobain, Airbus Group, Unibail Rodamco, Sanofi and Legrand also ended with sharp gains.

According to a report from the European Central Bank, eurozone's current account surplus decreased in June to its lowest level in nearly two- and-a-half years, falling to EUR 18.352 billion from EUR 30.291 billion in May.

In the 12-month period to June, the current account surplus was EUR 318 billion or 2.7% of euro area GDP, down from EUR 391 billion or 3.4% of euro area GDP in the same period of last year.

Final data from Eurostat showed that headline inflation in eurozone slowed to 1% in July from 1.3% in June. The initial estimate was 1.1%. In the same period last year, the inflation rate was 2.2%. This was the lowest since November 2016, when the rate was 0.6%.

Core inflation that excludes energy, food and tobacco, came in at 0.9%, compared to 1.1% in the previous month. The annual rate matched preliminary estimate released on July 31.

On Saturday, China's central bank unveiled a key interest rate reform, aiming to lower borrowing costs for companies and boost economic growth.

Markets also reacted positively to comments from German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz who said on Sunday that the country has the fiscal strength to mitigate any future economic crisis. He also suggested that Berlin could free up around 50 billion euros of extra spending.