Europe close: Stocks track gains on Wall Street
Stocks on the Continent finished higher, tracking gains on Wall Street and overnight in Asian trading, although traders remained cautious, especially regarding the risk of an escalation in protectionist trade measures around the world.
Echoing those concerns perhaps, Reuters reported on the results of an annual study of sovereign investors by Invesco which had revealed that more than a third of them were planning to reduce their exposure to stocks, citing trade wars, geopolitics and lofty valuations - although investors were said to still be keen to add to risk.
Nevertheless, and as Chris Beauchamp at IG pointed out: "Equities in the US are surging as well, building on Friday's strength. The absence of trade war news continues to tempt buyers back into stocks in the US, especially since the macro data does not appear to be indicating trouble ahead thanks to tariff disputes. Momentum traders continue to pile in, as the 'buy the dip' mentality finds itself on the up once more."
By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had advanced 0.58% or 2.23 points to 384.59, alongside a rise of 0.38% or 47.72 points to 12,543.89 for the German Dax and a gain of 0.42% or 22.34 points to 5,398.11 for the Cac-40.
Euro/dollar meanwhile was edging up by 0.05% to 1.17497.
Also helping stocks, but taking their toll on the euro, were relatively dovish remarks out of two top European Central bank officials.
In his introductory speech before the European parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, ECB chief Mario Draghi reiterated that: "we need to be patient, persistent and prudent in our policy to ensure that inflation remains on a sustained adjustment path."
For his part, in remarks to Bloomberg TV, ECB Governng Council member Benoit Coeure said rate-setters had not broached the subject of a first interest rate hike in September 2019.
Coeure also singled-out trade concerns as the main risk for the outlook, saying: "That's about escalation of trade tensions denting business confidence globally, and that’s the main risk."
Overnight, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite Index jumped 2.47% to 2,815.11, while the US dollar was a tad weaker versus the yuan, slipping 0.39% to 6.6167.
UK politics and the stability of the current government were in focus after Brexit Secretary David Davis resigned at the weekend, followed by foreign minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
Nevertheless, for the moment at least, analysts appeared to be sanguine that the Prime Minister would be able to see off any leadership challenge.
In other economic news, according to the country's Ministry of Finance, a 0.8% month-on-month jump in exports saw Germany's seasonally-adjusted trade surplus improve from €19.0bn for April to €20.3bn in May.