(MENAFN- AFP) Europe's main stock markets rose on Monday as a slowdown in inflation increased pressure on the ECB to take action and tensions over Ukraine eased as Russian troops moved away from the border.London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.16 percent to stand at 6,625.94 points in afternoon trading.In Paris, the CAC 40 added 0.25 percent to 4,422.50 points, despite official figures showed the French public deficit and debt in 2013 were higher than previous government estimates -- dealing a fresh blow to President Francois Hollande a day after disastrous local polls.The DAX 30 in Frankfurt climbed 0.21 percent compared with Friday's closing level to stand at 9,607.80 points as investors reacted to news that German retail sales, a closely watched measure of household confidence, increased in February.In London, "the FTSE has started a week crammed full of economic data on a positive note ... adding to last week's gains", said Toby Morris, a trader at CMC Markets."Ukraine will continue to make ... headlines for as long it takes for some kind of diplomatic agreement, but for now the news of a 'general decrease in tension' between Russia and the US seems to be enough for the markets to eat back some of the ground lost." Ukraine's defence ministry said it had noticed a gradual withdrawal of Russian troops from its border that may be linked to Washington's latest push for a diplomatic solution to the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.In a first major data announcement, eurozone inflation fell to 0.5 percent in March, the lowest rate since October 2009 at the height of the financial crisis, raising concerns about the dangers of deflation, or falling prices.Analysts said that this also increased pressure on the ECB to act to stimulate the economy, which would benefit stocks.- ECB under pressure -Ben May, an economist at Capital Economics, said the latest fall was due to temporary factors.
"Nonetheless, the weakness of inflation suggests that the ECB may have little option but to take further policy action," he said.The ECB's monetary policy committee holds its monthly meeting on Thursday, and until the inflation date expectations had been it would hold its key "refi" refinancing rate at an all-time low of 0.25 percent, where it has been since November.Markets are also looking ahead towards US jobs data towards the end of the week.US stocks opened higher Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.74 percent to 16,444.43 points after five minutes of trading.The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.69 percent to 1,870.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite gained 0.84 percent to 4,190.49.In foreign exchange trading, the euro climbed to $1.385 from $1.3752 late on Friday in New York.The pound slid to 1.2060 euros and firmed to $1.6645 from $1.6637.On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dipped to $1,294 an ounce from $1,294.75 on Friday.The dollar rose to 103.34 yen from 102.80 yen on Friday.In Japan on Monday, official data showed industrial output in February dropped 2.3 percent month-on-month -- the first fall in three months.Traders are awaiting the release on Tuesday of the Bank of Japan's Tankan survey of Japanese business sentiment, while the US Labor Department will on Friday unveil closely watched non-farm payrolls data for March.Asian stock markets mostly rose following Friday's rally on Wall Street.Shares in Societe Generale rose 0.4 percent in afternoon trading to 44.92 euros despite Libya's sovereign wealth saying it was suing the French bank for allegedly channelling bribes to allies of the son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi.Societe Generale denied the "unfounded" claims by the LIA, which was set up in 2006 to handle Libya's oil revenues.
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