The European markets are in positive territory on Monday, after the pro-bailout party won a narrow victory in the elections held in Greece on Sunday. Some volatility was seen in late morning when Spanish bond yields once again rose to the critical 7 percent level. The Asian markets rose on the news from Greece.
The conservative New Democracy party won 129 seats in Greece, still short of a majority in the 300-member house. New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras declared victory in the election and called parties to join a national salvation government, "as soon as possible."
Delivering a victory speech on Sunday night, he said Greeks had voted to stay in the euro, and termed it a victory for "all Europe." He said Greece would honor its obligations to its lenders.
Meanwhile, the Eurogroup said in a statement on Sunday that Greece's international creditors might return to Athens once the new government is in place to assist the country in its fiscal adjustment effort.
The troika, consisting of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, will return to Athens as soon as a new government is in place "to exchange views" with the new government on the way forward and prepare the first review under the second adjustment
program, it said.
Reports that emerged over the weekend citing the German weekly Der Spiegel said the European Union is preparing a framework for the joint issuance of the short-term common debt instruments for the currency bloc. The magazine reported that states can issue the so called "euro bills" up to a predetermined percentage of economic output.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.29 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is gaining 0.04 percent.
The German DAX is adding 0.83 percent and the French CAC 40 is rising 0.43 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is advancing 0.43 percent and Switzerland's SMI is gaining 0.48 percent.
In Frankfurt, Volkswagen is advancing 2.1 percent. Daimler is climbing 1.8 percent and BMW is up 1.3 percent.
Fresenius Medical Care is gaining 2 percent and ThyssenKrupp is rising 1.9 percent.
Commerzbank is declining 2.4 percent and Deutsche Bank is losing 1.3 percent.
Prime Office REIT is losing 1.9 percent. Deutsche Bank initiated the stock with a "Hold" rating.
In Paris, EDF is climbing 3.9 percent after Exane BNP raised the stock to "Outperform" from "Neutral."
EADS is rising 2.8 percent. Michelin and STMicroelectronics are gaining 2.1 percent each.
Peugeot is advancing 2 percent while Renault is rising 1.3 percent.
Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole are losing between 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent.
In London, Invista Real Estate Investment Management is surging over 17 percent after it agreed to be acquired by Palmer Capital Investors (India) Ltd.
Cable & Wireless is adding 7.9 percent. Its largest investor today agreed to accept Vodafone's offer.
Royal Dutch Shell is notably higher, while BP is in negative territory.
Among miners, BHP Billiton is gaining 1 percent and Rio Tinto is adding 0.7 percent. Xstrata is losing 1.6 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland is losing 1.5 percent while Lloyds Banking is falling 1.5 percent. Barclays is losing modestly.
Manufacturing buy-out specialist Melrose is in talks to buy German engineering firm Elster Group SE. Melrose shares are falling 1.3 percent.
Volvo is losing 0.1 percent in Stockholm. The company reported a decline in truck deliveries for May as strong growth in North America was more than offset by weak results in Europe, South America and Asia regions.
In economic news, data from a survey by the Conference Board showed that a leading indicator of the French economy declined in April, after growing in the previous two months. The leading economic index decreased 0.1 percent month-on-month to 113.7 in April. The index increased a revised 0.4 percent in March and 0.6 percent in February.
Across Asia/Pacific, major markets ended higher. Australia's All Ordinaries climbed 1.9 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.40 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1 percent.
Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 1.8 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a mixed open on Wall Street. In the previous session, the markets continued to benefit from optimism about the likelihood of further stimulus measures from the world's central banks. The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow climbed 0.9 percent, the Nasdaq jumped 1.3 percent and the S&P 500 surged up 1 percent.
In the commodity space, crude for July delivery is losing $0.29 to $83.74 per barrel while August gold is falling $6 to $1622.1 a troy ounce.
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