BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks ended on a buoyant note on Monday, riding on positive global cues. Encouraging developments on vaccine rollout, sharp jump in silver prices and corporate earnings hopes lifted stock prices.
On the vaccine front, EU president Ursula Von der Leyen said AstraZeneca will deliver about 40 million doses in the first quarter, an addition of about 9 million doses over last week's offer, and will start deliveries one week earlier than scheduled.
Materials shares were among the biggest gainers as silver prices surged to a five-month high in a Reddit-fueled frenzy.
Investors shrugged off data from Destatis showing that German retail sales decreased sharply in December due to the restrictions imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 1.24% up. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.92%, Germany's DAX climbed 1.41%, France's CAC 40 advanced 1.16% and Switzerland's SMI gained 1.41%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine ended with sharp to moderate gains. Greece and Portugal ended flat.
In the UK market, Fresnillo climbed about 9%. JD Sports Fashion gained 7% after the sportswear retailer entered a conditional agreement to buy Baltimore-based DTLR Villa LLC for $495 million.
Polymetal International, M&G, Associate British Foods, Berkeley Group, Taylor Wimpey, Barrat Developments, Kingfisher, DCC, Avast, Anglo American and Rentokil Initial gained 3 to 5.2%.
On the other hand, Pearson and Hargreaves Lansdown lost 5.6% and 4.6%, respectively. British Land, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and AstraZeneca also declined sharply.
In the German market, Deutsche Wohnen, Adidas, Covestro, Vonovia, SAP, Siemens and Munich RE gained 2 to 3.5%, while Fresenius Medical Care and Fresenius declined sharply.
In France, Teleperformance, Worldline, Essilor, Atos, Publicis Groupe, Cap Gemini, LOreal, Schneider Electric, Bouygues and ArcelorMittal gained 2 to 3.5%.
Technip and Unibail Rodamco both ended lower by more than 4%. Safran and Total lost about 1% each.
In economic news, retail turnover in Germany fell 9.6% month-on-month in December, reversing a 1.1% rise in November. This was the first fall in three months and much bigger than the economists' forecast of -2.6%.
On a yearly basis, retail sales growth slowed to 1.5% from 5 %in November. This was the slowest increase in the current eight-month sequence of growth. Economists had forecast sales to climb again by 5%.
IHS Markit said France's final Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 54.8 in January from December's 55.2 amid renewed lockdown measures across the continent. Though the reading was a tad above the initial 54.7 'flash' estimate, the momentum was at the fastest rate in six months.
The euro area manufacturing sector continued to expand at the start of the year, albeit at a slower pace as new lockdown measures and supply shortages posed challenges to producers, final data from IHS Markit showed.
The final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 54.8 in January from 55.2 in December. The flash reading was 54.7. However, the sector expanded for the seventh straight month and January's figure was amongst the highest seen over the past two-and-a-half years.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX