European markets closed higher Monday, bouncing back from a deep sell-off last week as fears over the coronavirus outbreak appeared to ease.
European markets
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed provisionally up by 0.3%, led higher by technology shares. The oil and gas sector however bucked the trend amid fears the spread of coronavirus could hit Chinese demand.
The People's Bank of China announced Sunday that it will inject 1.2 trillion yuan (approx. $173 billion) worth of liquidity into the markets via open market reverse repo operations. That helped to boost risk sentiment somewhat, with shares on Wall Street also in the green.
Investors also tracked Brexit developments. Monday is the first trading day since Brexit took place. The U.K. exited the EU at 11 p.m. on Friday and has now started an 11-month transition period in which it hopes to strike a trade deal with the bloc.
Negotiations are expected to be turbulent after the U.K.'s foreign minister said over the weekend that the U.K. would "not be aligning with EU rules" in any post-Brexit trade deal. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned both sides not to set up rigid "red lines" ahead of talks.
As for economic data, euro zone manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) readings came in at a nine-month high of 47.9 on Monday, but continued to dwell below the 50 point benchmark which represents growth.
Stocks on the move
Julius Baer shares fell by 3.56% after the Swiss private bank reported a 5% adjusted net profit drop in 2019 and announced plans to improve its cost-income ratio by 2022.
Worldline shares initially dropped after it announced the acquisition of fellow French payments technology company Ingenico, but later rose 0.5%. Ingenico shares jumped about 17% to lead the European benchmark.
Ryanair announced a beat on third-quarter revenue expectations on Monday morning and raised its profit guidance, leading the budget carrier's stock around 6% higher.