An aerial view of the Shard on June 28, 2012 in London, England.
Greg Fonne/Getty Images
LONDON — European stocks opened the new trading week — and month — on a positive note ahead of a busy week of central bank decisions and earnings.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.2% by 2:12 p.m. in London (9:12 a.m. ET). The U.K.’s FTSE index was last seen hovering just above the flatline, as Germany’s DAX added almost 0.9%. France’s CAC 40 was down about 0.1%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB had gained 0.2%.
The week’s earnings kicked off with Ryanair reporting after-tax profits of 1.72 billion euros ($1.98 billion) for the second quarter and 2.54 billion euros for the first half — a 42% rise which was in line with analysts’ estimates. The low-cost airline also reported first-half revenues of 9.82 billion euros, a rise of 13%. Shares in Ryanair were last seen up more than 2.7%, reversing earlier losses.
European carmakers led Monday’s gains, with Renault up about 2%, after the French carmaker’s Chief Growth Officer Fabrice Cambolive said the company wants to partner with more global manufacturers to build and sell vehicles, following a deal with Chinese firm Geely.
Other carmakers notching gains on Monday included Mercedes-Benz, which was up 2.2%, and Volkswagen, which added 2.2%, as Porsche rose 1.3%. Overall, the Stoxx 600 Automobiles and Parts Index gained 1%.
BP advanced 0.6% on Monday morning after the oil and gas multinational announced that it would sell certain U.S. onshore midstream assets in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins to Sixth Street for $1.5 billion.
The London-listed energy giant is due to report its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday.
Other results due out this week include Ferrari and Aramco on Tuesday and BMW and Vestas the day after, among others. On Thursday, earnings will come from Commerzbank, Diageo, Rheinmetall, AstraZeneca and Maersk and on Friday, we’ll get Richemont’s latest results.
The Riksbank will announce its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, we’ll have the latest monetary policy decision from the Bank of England, with economists split over whether the central bank will hold or cut interest rates. Germany’s Bundesbank will also releases its latest financial stability report.
U.S. stock futures were in positive territory ahead of Monday’s opening bell, as Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed.
Investors in Asia are assessing manufacturing activity figures from China following the release of RatingDog’s purchasing managers’ index for October. China’s manufacturing activity slowed to 50.6, missing the 50.9 expected by economists polled by Reuters and lower than September’s 51.2.
The official PMI numbers released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China’s manufacturing activity in October shrank to its lowest level in six months, coming in at 49.0.
— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed reporting to this story.
