Europe open: Small gains for stocks thanks to China stimulus

Stocks have started the morning higher in reaction to fresh Chinese economic stimulus to ward off the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

"A surge in Chinese stocks has helped spark a risk-on move in European markets this morning, with the prospect of fresh stimulus overshadowing the ongoing coronavirus fears," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.

Overnight, the Shanghai Stock Exchange's benchmark index jumped 2.28% to 2983.62 after the People's Bank of China announced a cut to the country's medium term interest rates and a new injection of liquidity into the country's financial system.

Against that backdrop, as of 1030 GMT the German Dax was adding 0.20% to 13,771.67, alongside a rise of 0.23% for the French Cac-40, while the FTSE Mibtel was up by 0.25% to 25,014.28.

In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were off by 0.15% to $57.21 a barrel and euro/dollar was little changed at 1.0839.

To take note of, trading volumes were expected to be lighter than usual on the back of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the States.

Nonetheless, reports indicated that Chinese authorities were mulling postponing two weeks of parliamentary meetings which had been scheduled to begin on 5 March, for the first time in decades.

Meanwhile in Germany, the country's central bank conceded that the outbreak and slower growth in China posed a cyclical downside risk to its economy and exports.

In the background, at the weekend the death toll from the virus hit 1,770 and the number of cases on the Chinese mainland climbed to 70,458.

There were also reports that the majority of US firms operating around Shanghai would not be able to restart operations at full capacity due to a lack of workers.