European Markets Began The New Trading Week With A Gain

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended the first session of the new trading week in the green. The markets received an early boost from the positive performance of the Asian markets, after China outlined plans for economic reform. On the economic front, investors were also pleased with the sharp increase in the Eurozone trade surplus. Investors will be watching for further clues to when the Federal Reserve plans to begin tapering its stimulus measures when the minutes of the FOMC meeting held on October 29 and 30 are released on Wednesday.

China vowed to deepen reforms to allow its transition towards a consumption-driven economy. Unveiling a raft of reforms, China on Friday announced plans to allow more private investment in the state sector, build a more and impartial and sustainable social security system and let Chinese companies and individuals make investments offshore more easily.

The economic situation in Eurozone has started to improve, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny said Monday. But the improvement is not as strong as expected some time ago, he told an economics conference.

Further, he said inflation rates are clearly below the price stability level set by the ECB.

Confidence in the U.K. financial system improved in the second half of 2013, results of the Systemic Risk survey from the Bank of England showed Monday.

A net balance of 28 percent said confidence increased over the past six months. The survey was carried out between September 23 and October 24.

According to the survey, sovereign risk poses the biggest risk to the financial system. About 74 percent cited sovereign risk as the major source of risk, which was followed by a risk of an economic downturn, with 67 percent balance.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.93 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.53 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed by 0.62 percent and the CAC 40 of France advanced by 0.66 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. rose by 0.45 percent and the SMI of Switzerland gained 0.29 percent.

In Frankfurt, RWE increased by 5.85 percent. Exane BNP upgraded the stock to ''Outperform'' from ''Neutral.'' Peer E.ON added 4.04 percent.

Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank gained 2.07 percent and 1.00 percent, respectively.

BMW finished with a gain of 1.96 percent. Daimler and Volkswagen rose 1.94 percent and 0.49 percent, respectively.

In Paris, Credit Agricole advanced by 1.48 percent. Societe Generale and BNP Paribas climbed by 0.59 percent and 0.50 percent, respectively.

In London, Aberdeen Asset Management surged by 16.82 percent. The company agreed to buy Lloyds Banking Group's asset management business Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Group Limited for about 560 million pounds. Lloyds gained 1.05 percent.

Petrofac plummeted by 15.85 percent. The oil and gas services provider said it is on track to achieve modest growth in net profit in 2013, and expects net income in 2014 to show flat to modest growth.

Aveva, which reported first-half results, declined by 7.83 percent.

Severn Trent fell by 0.11 percent, after it named Liv Garfield as its new CEO.

Capita dipped by 0.61 percent, after its CEO Paul Pindar announced his retirement.

Origin Enterprises gained 0.34 percent, after issuing a first-quarter update. Its majority shareholder Aryzta rose by 1.04 in Zurich.

Sonova, which reported first-half results, gained 5.41 percent in Zurich. The company also increased its full year forecast.

Neste Oil dropped by 8.81 percent in Helsinki, reportedly on a broker downgrade.

The euro area current account surplus declined to a seasonally adjusted EUR 13.7 billion in September from EUR 17.9 billion in August, the European Central Bank reported Monday.

Eurozone's foreign trade surplus increased markedly in September, the latest data from the statistical office Eurostat showed Monday. The region's trade in goods with the rest of the world resulted in a surplus of EUR 13.1 billion in September, up from EUR 6.9 billion surplus in August.

Average asking prices of a property in the U.K. declined in November in line with the usual pre-Christmas trend, a monthly survey by Rightmove revealed Monday. Prices fell 2.4 percent on a month-on-month basis, following a 2.8 percent surge in October. However, compared with an average November fall over the last three years, this year's drop was slightly more muted.

Household finances in the U.K. deteriorated at the fastest pace in seven months in November, a survey by Markit Economics revealed Monday. The household finance index fell sharply to 38.8 in November from 41 in October. The reading was the lowest since April this year.

Homebuilder confidence in the U.S. held steady in the month of November, according to a report released by the National Association of Home Builders on Monday. The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came in at 54 in November, unchanged from the downwardly revised reading for October.

Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared to the 55 originally reported for the previous month.