By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Europe's broad equity-market benchmark
closed higher Monday, hitting a seven-year high as investors weigh
up the prospects for quantitative easing from the European Central
Bank.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% to 353.18, its strongest close
since early January 2008, according to FactSet data. That added to
gains of nearly 4% over the past two sessions.
Stocks on Monday reached session highs after French President
François Hollande said policy makers at the ECB meeting on Thursday
"will take the decision to buy sovereign debt, which will provide
significant liquidity to the European economy and create a movement
that is favorable to growth."
There are "significant questions" about how the so-called
quantitative-easing program will be constructed, Société Générale
in a note on Monday.
"The ECB will not likely communicate on any specific volume
within its new package of measures, but rather on the effectiveness
of its package of measures," the Société Générale analysts
said.
The QE package will eventually include 400 billion euros ($465
billion) of private assets, and EUR500 billion to EUR600 billion of
sovereign bonds, they projected.
Also in focus in Europe this week is Greece's general election
on Sunday, and the latest opinion polls showed anti-bailout Syriza
party holding on to its lead ahead of the vote. There's been
concern in the market that Syriza will roll back austerity policies
if it were to win.
In Athens, shares of Attica Bank SA lost 4.6% and Eurobank
Ergasias SA fell 4.1% while Piraeus Bank SA managed to turn higher
by 2.1%. The Athex Composite switched back into positive territory,
rising 2.7% to 811.78.
Elsewhere on the Stoxx 600, oil and gas shares slipped as
crude-oil prices declined. U.S. oil futures (CLG5) fell 2%, to
below $48 a barrel in electronic trading, and Brent crude oil
pulled back 2% to below $50 a barrel.
J.P. Morgan Cazenove on Monday cut its ratings on major oil
companies Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Total SA to neutral from
overweight, and BP PLC and Statoil to underweight from neutral. BP
gave up 1.1% and Total lost 0.6%. Shell shares ended fractionally
lower, while Statoil shares reversed course and rose 1.1%.
The moves came as J.P. Morgan made a fresh round of downgrades
to its oil and U.S. gas-price forecasts. "Though we expect Big Oil
to react with cuts to all controllable costs and capex, the group
starts 2015 a country mile behind the price curve," its analysts
said.
Read: Oil prices move lower on Monday as ECB in focus
Elsewhere in European trade, Swiss stocks rose for the first day
in four sessions, pushing the Swiss Market Index higher by 3.2% to
8,150.77. The index on Thursday and Friday fell a combined 14.6%,
according to FactSet data, after the unexpected decision by the
Swiss National Bank to scrap its currency cap.
All components on the SMI closed higher Monday, with a 13.7%
jump in shares of investment bank Julius Baer Gruppe , and a 13%
rise for plumbing parts maker Geberit AG .
Geberit is one of the companies facing large downside risks to
reported earnings, now the Swiss franc's euro cap is gone, Credit
Suisse said Monday. Companies with large international sales, a
high cost base in Switzerland, major assets internationally and
high liabilities denominated in francs will be the ones most
affected by the SNB move, said Credit Suisse.
In another central bank move Monday, Denmark's central bank took
its deposit rate even further into negative territory, cutting it
to negative 0.20%.
On the country indexes, Germany's DAX 30 rose 0.7% to 10,242.35,
France's CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 4,394.93, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100
tacked on 0.5% to 6,585.53.
U.S. stock and bond markets were closed on Monday for the Martin
Luther King Jr. holiday.
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