European stocks end higher, driven by defense, bank stocks

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - European stock markets closed the first trading day of the week with gains led by surges in defense and bank stocks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 1.03%, or 5.86 points, to close the day at 572.1. The banks index climbed 1.15% and the aerospace and defense index surged 2.8%.

Germany's DAX 40 index was up 1.8% to end at 24,258.8 points, and the UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.52% to end at 9,403.57 points.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.39% to 8,206.07, and Italy's FTSE MIB index added 1.52% to close at 42,392.36 points.

Spain's IBEX 35 index was up 1.46 % to end Monday at 15,828.3 points.

One of the major drivers of the market was Europe's military stocks. Rheinmetall closed 5.9% higher, Renk gained 6.2%, and Hensoldt led the index with an almost 7.9% increase.

Meanwhile, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index closing more than 1.1% higher, European banks were also generally in positive territory.

The three banks with the biggest increases were Banco Sabadell, which gained around 4.6%, BPER Banca, which rose over 3.3%, and Banco BPM, which closed 2.5% higher.

Separately French luxury firm Kering rose 4.8% after it was revealed that the owner of Gucci was selling the company's fragrance and cosmetics division to L'Oreal for $4 billion ($4.7 billion).