(MENAFN- AFP) Leading European stock markets opened strongly on Monday, hours after European parliament elections put conservative parties in a leading position, but gave anti-EU forces a huge boost in France and Britain.
With the London markets closed for a holiday, the main German DAX index opened with a gain of 0.60 percent to 9,826.91 points.
And in Paris, where the far right and anti-EU National Front made a big breakthrough, the CAC 40 index gained 10.45 points to 4,503.6.
In Milan, the Italian FTSE Mib index leapt ahead by 2.19 percent to 21,200 points, led by banking shares.
Traders there said that sentiment had been boosted by an unexpectedly strong election showing by the Democrat Party of reformist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Reforms and budget rigour to strengthen public finances in response to the eurozone debt crisis, immigration, competition from abroad and distant powers exercised by European Union authorities, were central subjects in the campaign across the 28-nation European Union.
This had led analysts to warn that if far right or far left forces did strongly overall, clouds could appear over the process of post-crisis economic reform.
These outsider parties did well in some countries, but there was not a generalised wave of voting against the concept of the EU.
In France, the National Front party obtained the biggest single share of the vote, ahead of the mainstream UMP right-wing party and pushing the Socialists into a humiliatingly weak third place.
In Britain, the new UKIP party, which wants Britain to leave the EU, also won a big slice of the votes.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.