The UK market is advancing in afternoon trading on Monday, after G8 leaders said over the weekend that they want Greece to stay in the Eurozone. Sentiment was also influenced by some positive remarks about growth made by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Germany raised 2.910 billion euros from the sale of its Treasury discount paper, or Bubills, with 12 months maturity, Bundesbank said. The target set for the sale was 3 billion euros. The auction attracted bids totaling 6.170 billion euros.
The average yield on the 1-year debt fell to 0.0264 percent from 0.0743 percent in the previous sale on April 23. The bid-to-cover ratio, which indicates demand, dropped to 2.1 from 2.3.
Leaders of the G8 nations on Saturday said they support Greece remaining in the Eurozone, while welcoming the ongoing discussion in Europe on how to generate growth alongside a firm commitment on fiscal consolidation.
"We agree on the importance of a strong and cohesive Eurozone for global stability and recovery, and we affirm our interest in Greece remaining in the Eurozone while respecting its commitments," the leaders said in a statement after the conclusion of the Cap David Summit at Maryland in the U.S.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his French counterpart Pierre Moscovici are meeting in Berlin later today.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reportedly stated that going forward the nation would give bigger priority to policies aimed at growth. The statement comes after a string of official data that indicated a slowdown in the world's second largest economy.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is adding 0.47 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. Companies, is gaining 0.39 percent.
The FTSE 100 index is advancing 0.66 percent.
Man Group is climbing 6.2 percent. The firm agreed to acquire hedge fund research and investment specialist FRM Holdings Ltd., which has funds under management of nearly $8 billion.
Barclays plans to dispose of its entire holding in BlackRock. The stock is up 1 percent.
Vedanta is climbing 4.1 percent. BHP Billiton and Xstrata are advancing over 1 percent each.
British Land is climbing 1.9 percent after reporting increase in underlying earnings for the year.
GKN is adding 2.1 percent. IMI is gaining 2.7 percent.
International Consolidated is rising 2.6 percent.
Ryanair Holdings is declining 2.9 percent after predicting lower profit this year.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is adding 0.92 percent and the French CAC 40 is gaining 0.82 percent. Switzerland's SMI is climbing 0.57 percent.
Across Asia/Pacific, Australia's All Ordinaries added 0.62 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.16 percent and Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.26 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, slipped 0.16 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the major averages all ended the day firmly in negative territory, at their worst closing levels in four months, as traders were reluctant to hold positions going into the weekend. The Dow fell 0.6 percent, the Nasdaq plunged 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 slid 0.7 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for June delivery is adding $0.32 to $91.80 per barrel while June gold is losing $0.6 to $1591.3 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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