Europe open: Spanish stocks extend bounce
European equity markets have started the morning moving slightly higher, with Spanish stocks extending the bounce seen at the end of the previous week amid slight hopes of a political solution to the current impasse between regional authorities in Catalonia and the central government.
As of 0819 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was ahead by 0.38% or 1.47 points at 390.94, alongside gains of 0.33% or 17.74 points to 5,377.64 for the Cac-40 and a rise of 0.30% or 38.87 points to 12,994.81 in the German Dax.
Spain's Ibex 35 on the other hand was up by 0.92% or 93.80 points to 10,275.10.
At the weekend, almost 1.0m people (350,000 according to local authorities) marched through Barcelona in defence of Spanish unity. That was followed on Monday morning by a call from Catalan foreign affairs spokesman, Raul Romeva, for dialogue.
"We need two to tango, we need the other side to be at the table", Romeva told Bloomberg News in an interview. His remarks came on the heels of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont saying, the day before, that he was still planning to push ahead with a declaration of independence.
Nevertheless, some observers saw Romeva's remarks as hint of an olive branch to Madrid.
Commenting on the situation in Catalonia, analysts at Barclays Research said Saturday's demonstrations in Barcelona made a unilateral declaration of independence "marginally less likely".
In any case, whether or not Puigdemont were to renounce making a unilateral declaration of independence or opted instead to go ahead, leading Madrid to suspend some of the region's autonomy, snap regional elections in Catalonia were now the most likely scenario, Barclays said.
Meanwhile, in all things Brexit, the 5th round of negotiations between the European Union and the UK was set to kick-off on Monday, with the EU's lead trade negotiator, Michel Barnier, due to make a determination regarding whether "sufficient progress" has been made before the 19 October EU summit.
Industrial production in Germany jumped by 2.6% month-on-month in August, led by a 4.8% rise in output of capital goods, according to the Ministry of Finance, dwarfing forecasts for an increase of 0.8%.
Speaking to Handelsblatt, Credit Agricole boss Philippe Brassac said the lender would be interested in Commerzbank if it were put on the auction block.
France's Accor has offered £920m (£701m) for Mantra Group as it seeks to merge the two largest hotel owners Down Under.
According to La Stampa, Spain's stockmarket regulator was set to authorise Italian rival Atlantia's takeover of Abertis.