European stocks extend gains, Italian vote in focus; Dax surges 2.36%

Investing.com - European stocks extended gains on Monday, as market sentiment strengthened ahead of highly anticipated parliamentary elections in Italy.

During European afternoon trade, the EURO STOXX 50 rallied 2.13%, France’s CAC 40 jumped 1.78%, while Germany’s DAX 30 surged 2.36%.

Investors were eyeing the results of Italy’s election, amid concerns that a hung parliament could hamper efforts to implement further economic reforms and lead to instability in the euro zone’s third largest economy.

The results of the election were expected to be known on Tuesday, but exit polls were due to be published on Monday afternoon.

Financial stocks pushed higher, as French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale surged 3.19% and 3.92%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank rallied 3.55% and 4.67%.

Peripheral lenders also trended sharply higher, with Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander advancing 1.98% and 3.35%, while Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit soared 3.35% and 4.53% respectively.

Elsewhere, TNT Express jumped 3.94%, extending earlier gains, after saying in a statement it plans to name Tex Gunning as CEO as of June 1, pending shareholder approval.

In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 climbed 0.64%, even as ratings agency Moody’s cut the U.K.’s triple-A sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 late Friday, citing a weak outlook for growth and a rising debt burden.

U.K. lenders continued to track their European counterparts higher, as shares in Lloyds Banking advanced 0.84% and HSBC Holdings jumped 1.91%, while Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland surged 3.54% and 3.77%.

Also on the upside, mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton advanced 0.97% and 1.96%, while copper producers Xstrata and Kazakhmys rallied 1.21% and 2.14%.

Oil and gas major Anglo American added to gains, soaring 2.24%, while shares in rival company BP advanced 1.98%.

Dow Jones reported earlier that the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico coast states are considering a USD16 billion offer to settle claims related to the 2010 BP oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon rig.

On the downside, Reckitt Benckiser plummeted 3.51% after saying two manufacturers received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce generic Suboxone tablets in the world’s largest economy.

In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.39% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.44% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.66% increase.

Also Monday, data showed that China’s HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers Index, the earliest indicator of the country's industrial activity, fell to a four-month low of 50.4 in January from a final reading of 52.3 in December.