Europe close: Stocks mostly higher at the start of the week
European shares extended gains on Monday with shares in IWG gaining on a potential bidding war for its digital arm.
"After the earnings and central bank decisions of recent weeks, calm has descended across markets, which perhaps offers hope that a decent rebound is in the works," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"The one cloud on the horizon is US CPI, but if the market’s bullish mood is this strong then any hint of weakness could lead to an acceleration in the rally’s momentum."
The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.33% at 418.34, alongside a 0.55% advance for the German Dax to 13,533.52.
Investors were eyeing US mid-term elections on Tuesday and consumer price inflation figures on Thursday.
Euro/dollar edged up 0.35% to 0.9992 ahead of those events.
Asian stocks shrugged off data showing an unexpectedly small increase in China's exports and imports last month, especially in the former.
And at the weekend, health officials in China reiterated their commitment to strict Covid-19 curbs.
Those comments disappointed expectations for more immediate policy action, said Lee Hardman at MUFG Bank.
"The developments support our view that it is still likely too soon for a more sustained weakening of the US dollar right now but we do expect the pieces to fall into place next year including a true dovish Fed policy pivot," he added.
Chinese stocks and the yuan had rallied on Friday after the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that Beijing might be set to ease some of its pandemic restrictions.
The also WSJ said that German Chancellor Scholz and Xi Jinping had broached the possible use of BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine amongst the country's population.
Elsewhere on the economic front, German industrial production unexpectedly rose in September, according to federal statistics authority Destatis, beating market forecasts with a 0.6% month-on-month increase.
September's rise followed a downwardly revised 1.2% contraction (Preliminary: -0.8%) in August and tripled market expectations for a 0.2% uptick. On an annual basis, Germany's industrial production was up 2.6% in September.
In equity news, shares in IWG, formerly Regus, surged by more than a quarter on a report that CVC Capital Partners was among a number of private equity firms circling IWG,'s digital arm The Instant Group.