Investors’ attention was focused on a meeting Tuesday of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. The two leaders will be addressing the threat to the euro zone posed by low growth and teetering public finances in some euro members, their room to maneuver circumscribed by fears that France could be next in line for market attacks.
In early trading on Monday, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, rose 0.9 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London gained 0.5 percent.
Trading in U.S. index futures suggested that Wall Street stocks would rise at the opening bell, as well. The Standard Poor’s 500 index rose 0.5 percent Friday, after a rollercoaster performance during the week, as investors struggled to assess the impact of the U.S. ratings downgrade.
Asian shares rose, with the Tokyo benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gaining 1.4 percent.
The main Sydney market index, the SP/ASX 200, jumped 2.6 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng was up 3.3 percent, and in Shanghai, the composite index rose 1.3 percent.
Comex gold futures rose $3.90 to $1,746.50. U.S. crude oil futures for September delivery rose 0.2 percent to $85.54.
Many European investors were taking the Assumption Day holiday off, though markets were open for business across most of the Continent.
In Japan, second-quarter gross domestic product data showing that the economy there had contracted less severely than expected also helped lift sentiment.
The statistics, released by the Cabinet Office early Monday, showed that the Japanese economy, which was battered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March, had contracted 0.3 percent from the previous quarter, indicating that economic activity had rallied more quickly than expected after the disaster.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies. The euro rose to $1.4319 from $1.4248 late Friday in New York, while the British pound rose to $1.6294 from $1.6276.
But the dollar was higher against the yen, rising to 76.84 yen from 76.67 yen, and gained to 0.7943 Swiss francs from 0.7777 francs.
“Decent data on Thursday and Friday last week brought a semblance of stability to markets,” analysts at DBS in Singapore wrote in a research note on Monday, referring to U.S. retail sales and jobless figures that were both relatively upbeat.
“Housing, inflation and industrial production will have the do the trick this week,” the DBS analysts commented. “It won’t be easy.”
Bettina Wassener reported from Hong Kong.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=d91394cbc5b968f7422bf4eaab68816a
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