(MENAFN- AFP) German stocks shot higher Monday on surging shares in energy companies boosted by indications that they have sufficient funds to close down their nuclear power plants.
Other main European markets slid however, ending last week's winning streak as traders assessed whether the Federal Reserve would raise US interest rates this year.
Shares in German energy giants E.ON and RWE rallied after a government study suggested the two companies had sufficient financial buffers to safely dismantle their nuclear power plants.
"RWE and E.ON (shares) have fallen dramatically this year on fears that provisions put aside will be insufficient for the full decommissioning of nuclear plants," said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at traders London Capital Group.
"These concerns were laid to rest this morning by the German economy ministry and shares in the companies have jumped."
RWE soared 9.35 percent to close at 13.40 euros and E.ON gained 4.95 percent to 9.55 euros.
That helped push Frankfurt's DAX 30 higher by 0.23 percent to finish at 10,119.83 points compared with Friday's close.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.27 percent to finish at 4,688.70 points, after six straight days of gains.
And London's FTSE 100 was lower after "the index's best weekly advance since January", noted Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.
The FTSE dropped 0.70 percent to close at 6,371.18, pulled down by the mining sector, especially Glencore.
The Swiss mining giant said it had begun talks to sell copper mines in Australia and Chile. Under pressure from a crash in commodity prices and weighed down by debt, Glencore's share price sank 6.16 percent to 121.15 pence in London.
It had surged Friday after Glencore said it would slash its output of zinc by one third.
European stock markets had advanced Friday on growing hints that US interest rates will not rise until next year.
But over the weekend, Fed vice chairman Stanley Fischer said the bank expected to stick to its plan to tighten monetary policy by the end of the year.
However, he also noted that "both the timing of the first rate increase and any subsequent adjustments to the federal funds rate target will depend critically on future developments in the economy".
In foreign exchange, the euro rose to $1.1367 from $1.1359 late on Friday in New York.
A mega-merger greeted US investors Monday as computer giant Dell announced it was buying data-storage giant EMC Corporation for $67 billion, sending US stocks higher.
At mid-day in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.25 percent to 17,126.45 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent to 2,016.80, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.26 percent at 4,842.80.
EMC gained 1.18 percent on news of its buyout by privately-held Dell, which aims to position itself as a leader in cloud computing and other increasingly important technology businesses.
Shanghai meanwhile led a broad Asian equities rally Monday on hopes of fresh Chinese economic stimulus.
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