(MENAFN– ecpulse)
European equities opened slightly higher on Monday, supported by the upside correction in Wall Street as investors flushed away a worse-than-expected US employment report.
The sentiment is somehow upbeat this morning as European markets followed gains in Asia after US stocks posted sharp gains despite January`s soft non-farm payrolls number. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 15,794.08 and the Standard & Poor`s 600 added 1.1% to 1,797.02, posting their best week of the year, respectively.
Wall Street took in a second straight month of weak job growth, but stocks regained their footing nonetheless, perhaps because investors were downplaying the weak data due to severe winter weather that has hurt the economy.
The US economy picked up on 113 thousand additional workers in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly report, once again far below most economists` estimates of 170 thousand to 180 thousand. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.6% -- 0.60% drop since October.
As of 03:36 a.m. EST, the Stoxx Europe 600 added a soft 0.06% helped by gains in technology shares, as Nokia led the benchmark higher after agreeing to HTC patent settlement. The tech giant rose as much as 7.3%, its biggest gain for over three months, with volumes reaching 32% of its 3-month daily average in first 7 minutes trading.
- Britain`s FTSE 100 added 2.42 points, or 0.04%, reaching 6,574.10
- France`s CAC 40 added 2.67 points, or 0.06%, reaching 4,230.85
- Germany`s DAX 30 added 4.51 points, or 0.05%, reaching 9,306.43
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