The French market is marginally higher in afternoon trading Monday, as investors remained optimistic about a positive outcome to the debt crisis in the region from this week's discussions.
Reports suggested that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras would meet Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker, who also heads the Eurogroup, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande this week to seek a two-year extension for the country's fiscal adjustment program.
Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is considering setting limits on yields of Eurozone sovereign bonds, Germany's Spiegel magazine reported Sunday without mentioning its sources. The central bank would intervene and buy the bonds if their interest rates exceed a pre-determined threshold above German bonds, the magazine said.
In economic news, Eurozone construction output declined for the third consecutive month in June, Eurostat reported. In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production dropped 0.5 percent from a month ago, when it fell 0.2 percent.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is advancing 0.52 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is rising 0.06 percent.
The CAC 40 index has been moving between gains and losses and is currently up 0.04 percent.
STMicroelectronics is declining 2 percent. Carmaker Renault is losing 1.1 percent and Peugeot is falling 0.5 percent.
BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are modestly lower while Societe Generale is moderately up.
Alcatel Lucent is rising 1.1 percent. Insurer Axa and builder Vinci are up around 1 percent each.
Elsewhere in Europe, the German DAX is advancing 0.50 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 and Switzerland's SMI are losing 0.16 percent and 0.07 percent, respectively.
Across Asia/Pacific, major markets ended mostly lower while in the U.S., futures point to a slightly higher open on Wall Street.
In the previous session, the Dow gained 0.2 percent, the Nasdaq rose 0.5 percent and the S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent, as better-than-expected economic news solidified market sentiment. A closely watched survey showed earlier in the day that consumer attitudes have improved in August, rising to their highest level in three months.
In the commodity space, crude for September delivery is adding $0.19 to $95.91 per barrel and December gold is losing $3.5 to $1615.9 a troy ounce.
by RTT Staff Writer
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