European shares hit a seven-year high on Monday as Italian banks rallied, boosted by the prospect of a significant corporate governance revamp, and Swiss shares clawed back some of last week's sharp losses.
European shares hit a seven-year high on Monday as Italian banks rallied, boosted by the prospect of a significant corporate governance revamp, and Swiss shares clawed back some of last week's sharp losses.
Broader market sentiment has been supported by expectations the European Central Bank will unveil plans to buy sovereign bonds at the end of a policy meeting on Thursday in a bid to boost inflation expectations in the region.
Shares in co-operative Italian banks rose sharply on the back of a draft government decree which would abolish a rule granting one vote to each shareholder regardless of the size of their stake.
Banca Popolare di Milano, Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna, Banco Popolare and UBI were up between 7.5% and 11.3%.
Swiss bank Julius Baer was the top gainer among larger European stocks as it rose 5.5 percent. The private bank said it did not suffer any losses soon after the Swiss National Bank's decision to abandon a three-year-old cap on the franc.
The Swiss benchmark index SMI was up 3.8% after shedding 13% last week after the central bank's shock decision sent the franc soaring, denting the attractiveness of Swiss exports.
At 1155 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.2% at 1,410.26 points, after hitting the highest level since early 2008 at 1,415.48 points.
Expectation that the ECB will start buying government bonds, lowering yields on those bonds and pushing some investors into riskier asset classes such as equities, has helped European stocks outperform Wall Street this month.
Analysts expect the ECB to announce plans to buy around 500-600 billion euros of sovereign bonds, although doubts remain about the make-up of the purchases and how the burden would be shared between the ECB and national central banks.
With sovereign bond yields already at record lows and stocks at multi-year highs, some investors have raised questions about market upside from here.
"There's a positive bias on the market overall ahead of the ECB meeting, but the market is very volatile and there are big question marks on the upside potential going forward," said Jean-Louis Cussac, head of the Paris-based Perceval Finance.
Analysts at Citi were more positive, targeting a 15-20% return on European equities this year based on the assumption that QE would underpin nominal economic growth and earnings, allowing companies to pay dividends.
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