Europe jumps to fresh records on China stimulus

European stocks rose on Monday, to jump to all-time highs and resume their rally after taking a pause on Friday, thanks to a global risk-on move and improved market sentiment, after Chinese government took new stimulus measures to offset the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was higher by 0.2% at 11:35 GMT, reaching its all-time high of 432.48 points, while it also closed lower by 0.1% on Friday on profit-taking.

During the past week, the European index gained 1.5%, and posted its second straight weekly gain, after successive business reports by major European companies and banks, and record gains at Wall Street.

The index opened today's session higher, jumping to its all-time highs, with most of the major European exchanges and sectors rising today.

The automobile sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, rising more than 2.2%, following news about China stimulus measures.

The People's Bank of China injected 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) of medium-term financing to institutions, and cut interest on these loans by ten basis points to 3.15% instead of 3.25%.

These measures are aimed countering the impact the coronavirus, which has infected more than 70,000 cases and claimed the lives of 1,770 people.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% today, posting its record high, after the index closed higher by 0.2% on Friday at Wall Street.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index added 0.2%, France's CAC 40 rose by 0.25%, the UK's FTSE 100 rose by 0.3%, and the German DAX rose by 0.2%, and reached its all-time high of 13,795.24 points.