(MENAFN- AFP) European equities closed higher Monday as strong US jobs data continued to brighten investors' mood, but Wall Street ran into profit-taking as the market absorbed record-breaking gains.
The London market eked out a small improvement on its recent winning streak seen after the Bank of England brought on heavy monetary artillery in the form of a rate cut and quantitative easing to combat the economic fallout from Brexit.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt rose 0.6 percent and Paris managed 0.1 percent.
"An early rally fizzled out in afternoon trading as European markets edged out a third day of gains which began with the Bank of England's 'sledgehammer' monetary policy decision on Thursday," said Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets.
Friday's bright US employment figures helped "overshadow some lacklustre Chinese trade data" published Monday, analysts at Charles Schwab noted.
- Support from oil -
Support also came from rebounding oil prices, buoyed by an announcement by OPEC that the producers' cartel plans an informal meeting next month which may result in lower output.
US oil sector shares held up well in response even as the rest of Wall Street began to slip, with Wal-Mart shares edging lower after news of its acquisition of online retailer Jet.com as part of its efforts to counter Amazon in the booming e-commerce market.
Trading volumes were mostly thin, with analysts at Aurel BGC in Paris expecting "one of the calmest weeks of the year" with fewer corporate results and economic data, and no central bank meetings scheduled.
Airbus Group shares fell one percent to 50.48 euros in Paris after Britain's Serious Fraud Office revealed on Sunday it had opened a criminal probe into the aircraft manufacturer, investigating allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption.
Airbus said it was aware of the probe and the aviation firm was working with investigators.
- 'Comfortable with tightening' -
Elsewhere, Tokyo led Asia stocks higher Monday, tracking a strong lead from Wall Street where markets surged in the wake of strong US jobs data.
Washington reported Friday a big gain in jobs in July and upgraded employment estimates for the prior two months, boosting the odds of a US Federal Reserve interest rate hike this year, dealers said.
"Equity investors appeared comfortable with the idea of a tightening in the United States' monetary conditions," said analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at trading firm London Capital Group.
"Whether or not the Fed could hike rates this year is still dependent on the data."
The US Labor Department said the world's biggest economy added 255,000 jobs in July, easily topping analyst forecasts for an increase of 185,000.
"Very often the US nonfarm payrolls report can dictate the tone of market trading for much of the month, and with the summer holiday season now fully upon us that may well be the case again over the coming weeks," said Derek Halpenny, European head of markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Tokyo rose 2.4 percent and Hong Kong jumped 1.5 percent.
- Shanghai shrugs off data -
China was also up despite figures from Customs showing that imports and exports both slumped in July in dollar terms -- the latest poor figures from the world's second-largest economy.
Shanghai gained 0.9 percent, even after figures showing that the economy struggled in July with a worse-than-expected trade performance.
Measured in US dollars, China's imports fell 12.5 percent year-on-year to $132.4 billion as weaker global commodity prices and lacklustre domestic demand weighed on the value of purchases.
The drop was significantly larger than the 7.0 percent median forecast in a survey of economists by Bloomberg News.
As the world's biggest trader in goods, China is crucial to the global economy.
- Key figures at around 1545 GMT -
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 6,809.13 points (close)
Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 10,432.36 (close)
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.1 percent at 4,415.46 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.3 percent at 2,983.87
New York - DOW: DOWN 0.1 percent at 18,524.00
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.4 percent at 16,650.57 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,004.277 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.5 percent at 22,479.60 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1077 from $1.1087 on Friday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3041 from $1.3072
Dollar/yen: UP at 102.57 yen from 101.79 yen
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