European stock markets rallied on Monday after Spain over the weekend asked the European Union for aid to help the country’s ailing banking sector.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index (XX:SXXP) +1.28% jumped 1.9% to 246.41. The gains in Europe were helped by Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos asking the EU for much as 100 billion euros ($126 billion) in loans to help the banks, after a teleconference call with euro-zone finance ministers on Saturday. The aid will be provided by the European Financial Stability Facility /European Stability Mechanism.
Spanish shares soared, with the IBEX 35 index (XX:IBEX) +2.71% jumping 4.5% to 6,847.20. Banks rallied: CaixaBank SA (ES:CABK) +4.13% surged 6%, Bankinter SA (ES:BKT) +5.31% took on 7.6%, while BBVA SA (ES:BBVA) +4.08% BBVA +1.73% added 6.4%. Heavyweight Banco Santander SA ES:SAN +3.63% STD +2.86% rose 5.8%.
STD +2.86% Elsewhere, financials were also higher. In France, insurance firm AXA SA (FR:CS) +4.19% advanced 4.6%, while Credit Agricole SA (FR:ACA) +3.78% rose 3.1% and Société Générale SA (FR:GLE) +3.74% moved up 3.1%. The CAC 40 index (FR:PX1) +1.52% was up 1.9% at 3,110.38.
In Germany, Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBK) +3.08% posted the biggest gain, up 4.5%, helping lift the DAX 30 index (DX:DAX) +1.81% 2.3% to 6,273.31.
Auto makers were also supporting the index. Volkswagen AG (DE:VOW3) +4.14% (DE:VOW) +3.28% added 4.4%, BMW AG DE:BMW +1.63% climbed 2.9% and Daimler AG (DE:DAI) +2.27% increased 2.8%.
Among U.K. shares, miners and oil firms buoyed the FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX) +0.87% to a 1.8% gain to 5,529.88.
Vedanta Resources PLC (UK:VED) +2.46% added 5.5%, Evraz PLC (UK:EVR) +2.83% rose 5.1% and Rio Tinto PLC (UK:RIO) +2.28% RIO -4.12% took on 4.7%.
Oil group BP PLC (UK:BP) +2.18% BP -0.99% gained 1.9% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (UK:RDSA) +0.81% (UK:RDSB) +0.17% RDS.A -0.16% RDS.B -0.12% ticked 1.4% higher.
This was according to data compiled by Market Watch.
