European Markets Close Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Monday on hopes the Federal Reserve will continue with its easy monetary policy for longer time, and central banks in several countries, including Japan and China will announce additional stimulus to keep economic recovery on track.

With the U.S. market closed today for Labor Day holiday, volume of business in most of the major markets in Europe were somewhat thin.

Investors continued to track updates about the spread in the delta variant of the coronavirus, and the latest batch of economic data from the region. Markets also await the European Central Bank's monetary policy review on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.69%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.68%, Germany's DAX climbed up 0.96% and France's CAC 40 surged up 0.8%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.63%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Greece edged up marginally, while Czech Republic and Portugal ended weak.

In the UK market, ITV, Burberry Group, ICP, Experian, Rentokil Initial, Evraz, Sage Group, DCC, AstraZeneca, JD Sports Fashion, Glencore, Just Eat Takeaway.com and Legal & General gained 1.5 to 2.6%.

In France, LVMH, Kering, Hermes International, ArcelorMittal, Essilor, Publicis Groupe, Vivendi, Airbus Group, Pernod Ricard, Teleperformanec and Engie moved up 1 to 2.2%.

Carrefour gained about 2% after some large shopping centres in the country have had their health pass requirement cancelled in court and the government said the requirement could be relaxed imminently nationwide.

Faurecia and Accor lost 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively. Shares of engineering group Spie shed nearly 5% after the company submitted an offer to buy Engie's services unit.

In the German market, Linde, Siemens and Deutsche Bank gained 1.6 to 2.2%. SAP, Covestro, Thyssenkrupp, Puma, Infineon Technologies and Allianz also ended with strong gains.

German wind turbine maker Nordex gained in strength after it unveiled a new N163/6MW-plus turbine for its product portfolio.

Shares of Italian defence group Leonardo moved up sharply on news the company still aims to list its U.S. unit DRS.

In economic releases, German factory orders grew 3.4% on a monthly basis, Destatis said - confounding expectations for a decline of 1%. However, the pace of growth was weaker than June's 4.6%.

Germany's construction activity contracted further in August, at the sharpest rate in three months, survey results from IHS Markit showed.

The construction purchasing managers' index fell to 44.6 from 47.1 in July. Any reading below 50 suggests decline in activity in the sector.

Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence dropped to a score of 19.6 in September from 22.2. That was slightly below expectations for a score of 19.7 and marked the lowest reading since April, 2021.

Elsewhere, a survey showed that the U.K. construction sector grew at the slowest pace since February last month, hit by ongoing material shortages.

The IHS Markit/CIPS construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to 55.2, the lowest since February and down from July's 58.7.