Europe close: Stocks gain as authorities ease lockdowns

Stocks across the Continent started the week higher, buoyed by news of falling Covid-19 infections across much of the European Union and moves to ease lockdowns in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Nevertheless, there was a significant debate going on in the background regarding the right tempo for lifting the containment measures.

In an interview with Germany's Taggespiegel, former finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said that together with the epidemiological considerations, one also needed to account for the economic, social, psychological and other factors, warning of the dangers of a two-year brake on economic activity.

Against that backdrop, the German Dax finished 3.13% higher at 10,659.99, alongside a 2.55% gain for the French Cac-40 to 4,505.26.

"Europe and North America have been the worst hit by the coronavirus so far but both are seeing improvements in new cases and deaths as the extreme lockdown measures bear fruit," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

"We're by no way out of the woods, with a second wave almost inevitable in many people's eyes but this is encouraging and means we're a huge step closer to the re-opening of economies around the world."

Deutsche Bank was a top gainer on the Dax after the lender posted better-than-expected first quarter earnings, albeit alongside $542m in provisions.

Adidas was also moving higher despite forecasting a quarterly loss for the three months to June on the back of an anticipated roughly 40% drop in sales.

The Stoxx 600 sector gauge for Travel & Leisure rose by 4.75% on the back of the news of easier lockdown restrictions, while that for banks was up 3.88%.

Italian stocks also advanced, buoyed by Standard&Poor's decision on the preceding Friday to keep the country's long-term debt rating out of 'junk' territory.

The FTSE Mibtel traded 3.09% higher to 17,380.21 and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond retreated by 12 basis points to 1.76%.

Front month Brent crude oil futures however fell 8.01% to $19.58 a barrel on the ICE, alongside a near 27% fall in similarly-dated US oil futures to $13.36.

No major economic data were scheduled for release in the euro area on Monday.

Nevertheless, investors were tallying up the cost of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, with some observers musing that Spain would need to issue 50% more public debt in 2020 than it had initially planned on.

On a more positive note, some reports were also highlighting indications of increased electricity use in Italy and Germany, a possible sign that economic activity was resuming.