European stocks rose in early trading on Tuesday, and hit all-time highs, after the Easter holiday, thanks to improved risk appetite following the Wall Street's record rally.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.8% as of 11:22 GMT, and hit the highest level ever at 436.5 points, after closing higher by 0.6% on Thursday.
The pan European index gained 1.25% last week, posting its fifth straight weekly gain, on improved risk appetite, after the US Treasury yields fell.
The mining sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a jump of more than 2.5%, on hopes of a global economic recovery and improved demand.
Dow Jones futures fell 0.2%, ahead of Wall Street opening after the index closed higher by 1.1% yesterday and posted a new record high of 33,618.0 points.
S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.2%, after the index closed higher by 1.4% yesterday and posted a new record high of 4,083.42 points.
Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.8% to the highest since 2008 at 3,988.10 points, France's CAC 40 rose 0.6% to the highest since June 2007 at 6,159.1 points, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.
Germany's DAX index added 1.2% hit a new record high of 15,311.9 points.