By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets extended gains
into a sixth straight session on Monday, with several firms on the
rise after broker upgrades and investors welcoming a rise in
euro-zone PMI data.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.4% to 305.28, on track for
the highest close since late May.
Some of the biggest gains in the pan-European index came on the
back of broker upgrades. Shares of Mediaset SpA climbed 2.9% after
Deutsche Bank lifted the Italian broadcaster to buy from hold.
Shares of Thomas Cook Group PLC added 3.2% after Citigroup
lifted the travel agency to buy from neutral, while Drax Group PLC
rose 2.5% as Goldman Sachs lifted the utility firm to buy and added
it to the conviction list.
On a more downbeat note, share of Akzo Nobel NV (AKZOY) dropped
1.6% after Berenberg cut the paints and coatings firm to sell from
hold.
More broadly, investors digested the region's final purchasing
managers' indexes for July, released Monday. The composite index
for the euro zone rose to 50.5, above a preliminary reading of 50.4
and better than June's 48.7. The July reading marked the first time
since January 2012 the index has climbed above the 50 level that
separates expansion from contraction.
Investors were further mulling over last week's U.S. jobs report
to try to decipher whether it strengthens or weakens the case for
the Federal Reserve to reduce its asset purchases in coming months.
The Labor Department said 162,000 jobs were created in July, below
analyst expectations, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.4%,
marking the lowest level since the end of 2008.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has on several
occasions stressed that the tapering process is dependent on an
improvement in data.
U.S. stock futures pointed to an almost flat open on Wall
Street.
Among country-specific indexes in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100
index added 0.4% to 6,675.90, while Germany's DAX 30 index rose
0.2% to 8,419.91.
France's CAC 40 index traded 0.2% higher at 4,051.17.
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