Eurozone equities advance on positive data

Eurozone stock markets marched higher Monday following bright economic data, showing business activity in October at a 10-month high.

Frankfurt closed up 0.5 percent with the DAX 30 index hitting its highest level since the start of the year, and Paris gained 0.4 percent. London meanwhile slipped 0.5 percent from Friday's closing level.

"A positive swell of data has continued to boost the eurozone," said analyst Connor Campbell at trading firm Spreadex.

Eurozone business activity picked up strongly this month, recovering from a dip in September, as economic powerhouse Germany led the way, a closely-watched survey showed.

Data monitoring company IHS Markit said the October figures were encouraging, after months where the economy has bumped along the bottom and was then badly rattled by Britain's shock vote in June to exit the European Union.

It said its preliminary October Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the 19-nation euro area jumped to 53.7 points from 52.6 in September.

The PMI measures companies' readiness to spend on their business and so gives a good idea of how the underlying economy is performing.

"The eurozone... went from strength to strength, the DAX and CAC now up just shy of 1.0 percent, thanks to a series of sharp recoveries in the region's manufacturing and services PMIs," added Campbell.

"Following on from the impressive readings out of Germany and France, the eurozone-wide composite PMI (showed)... the region's firms putting Brexit firmly behind them."

Another euro area winner Monday was the Milan market which closed up 0.75 percent, boosted in part by the share price of the world's oldest and Italy's third largest bank, Monte Paschi di Siena (BMPS), skyrocketing 31 percent as investors awaited the release of its new business plan.

- 'Holding up well' -

US stocks were also higher Monday on encouraging data showing "US manufacturing growth is holding up well," global economist Nikita Shah at Capital Economics noted.

But both AT&T and Time Warner shares sank on news of their controversial $108.7 billion mega merger as antitrust challenges loomed.

At midday in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4 percent, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.45 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.8 percent.

In Asia meanwhile, Shanghai led a broad rally on hopes China will unveil fresh economy-boosting measures.

Chinese growth has levelled out this year after a painful slowdown, but there are hopes officials will push on with spending measures and reforms, particularly of giant state-owned firms.

The upbeat outlook helped push Shanghai up 1.2 percent by the close, while Hong Kong was one percent higher.

In Seoul, troubled shipping company Hanjin collapsed almost 12 percent after it said it would close its European business.

The firm said it had applied for court approval to close all of its European units in more than 10 countries including Germany, where it has regional headquarters.

World oil prices staged a modest retreat after Iraq's oil minister said that it should be exempted from OPEC's planned output cut because it is waging a war with Islamic State jihadists.

"Oil prices slipped on Monday as Iraq indicated that it wished to be exempt from any upcoming OPEC production cut,? said Wayne Heap of British-based broker Love Energy.

"Without the support of their second largest producer, OPEC may struggle to hit the reductions in output that they are aiming for."

- Key figures around 1600 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5 percent at 6,986.40 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.5 percent at 10,761.17 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 4,552.58 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.5 percent at 3,093.86

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 17,234.42 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.0 percent at 23,604.08 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,128.25 (close)

New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 18,219.78

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0887 from $1.0880 Friday

Dollar/yen: UP at 104.21 yen from 103.83 yen

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2204 from $1.2227

Euro/pound: UP at 89.21 pence from 88.98 pence

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 64 cents at $50.21 per barrel

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN 60 cents at $51.18 per barrel