Investing.com - European stocks were higher on Monday, as investors awaited a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and as growing expectations for further easing measures by the ECB continued to support.
During European morning trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 gained 0.86%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.34%, while Germany’s DAX jumped 0.97%.
Draghi was to speak at the ECB Forum in Portugal later Monday, with investors watching for any indications on the future direction of monetary policy.
European equities have been gaining ground since the ECB indicated at its May 5 meeting that it is comfortable with easing monetary policy as soon as its next meeting in June, to tackle low levels of inflation in the region.
Meanwhile, anti-European Union and far-right parties performed strongly in elections to the European Parliament in some countries over the weekend, amid voter anger over austerity and high unemployment.
Financial stocks were broadly higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas (PARIS:BNPP) and Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) climbed 0.86% and 0.84%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank (XETRA:DBKGn) advanced 0.43%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy's Unicredit (MILAN:CRDI) and Intesa Sanpaolo (MILAN:ISP) surged 4.28% and 4.97% respectively, while Spain's BBVA (MADRID:BBVA) and Banco Santander (MADRID:SAN) gained 0.56% and 0.63%.
Elsewhere, French technology services company Atos (PARIS:ATOS) rallied 4.15% after it offered to buy rival Bull (PARIS:BUL) for about €620 million to create a European leader in cybersecurity and cloud computing.
Alstom (PARIS:ALSO) added to gains, up 0.38%, as General Electric (NYSE:GE) pledged to keep the power-equipment maker’s nuclear operations in France, if it gets the French government's approval for its $17 billion bid to buy the company's energy division.
Trade volumes were expected to remain thin on Monday with U.K. markets closed for a public holiday and markets in the U.S. remaining shut for the Memorial Day holiday.