By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks traded higher Monday,
with Spanish bank Banco Popular Español among those in the
financial sector guiding the pan-European index toward another
multiyear high.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2% at 347.91, adding to
Friday's advance that left the benchmark index at its highest
closing level in more than six years. The index last week rose
nearly 1%, coming after the European Central Bank outlined measures
aimed at boosting inflation and encouraging economic growth
through.
Overall, the ECB's "measures still help bank balance sheets,
with positive impact on funding costs and deleveraging" of
nonperforming loans and legacy assets, "which benefits peripheral
banks most," said J.P. Morgan analyst Mislav Matejka on Monday in a
note to clients. The note also included an upgrade to an overweight
rating for Banco Popular Español SA , sending its shares 3.3%
higher, the best performing stock on the Stoxx 600.
Shares of Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were also higher, rising 1.2%, and
UniCredit SpA moved up 0.8%.
Elsewhere in financial sector, shares of Lloyds Banking Group
PLC (LYG) fell 1.5% as Lloyds priced the initial public offering of
its TSB unit between 220 pence ($3.69) to 290 pence. Lloyds expects
to sell 125 million ordinary shares, and the offer represents
around 25% of the TSB unit.
The midpoint of the price range puts TSB's market capitalization
at around GBP1.275 billion. Media reports quoted analysts as saying
TSB's book value as a stand-alone entity is around GBP1.5 billion.
Final pricing will be announced on or around June 20.
Lloyds shares lagged behind the U.K. FTSE 100 index , which rose
0.3% to 6,875.65.
On other indexes, France's CAC 40 index dipped 0.1% to 4,578.92,
and Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.1% to 9,994.48.
Several European stock markets were closed in observation of
Whit Monday. There was no trading in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark,
Greece, Iceland, Norway, Cyprus, Hungary and Ukraine.
More news from MarketWatch:
Hopes for growth still ride on U.S. consumer
Tyson Foods wins battle to buy Hillshire
Has the Piketty backlash begun in Hong Kong?
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires