Europe close: Stocks gain on news of UK-EU Northern Ireland deal
European shares started the week on the front foot, with investor sentiment boosted by news of a deal between the UK and European Union on Northern Ireland.
Yet some analysts remained of a somewhat cautious bent with IG's Chris Beauchamp telling clients: "But with a lighter calendar this week and earnings season firmly winding down it looks like bulls will have the chance to grab control in a way that has eluded them for weeks.
"But the overall outlook still seems to point towards high inflation and continued rate rises, something unlikely to prompt sustained gains for stocks."
The pan-regional Stoxx 600 was up 1.07% at 462.58 with all major bourses higher alongside.
In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year German Bund rose by four basis points to 2.58%.
Euro/dollar meanwhile added 0.51% to 1.0602.
For later in the week, investors would be eyeing eurozone inflation data and European Central Bank policy minutes, both of which were due out on Thursday.
Shares had sold off both in the US and Europe on Friday after US inflation data came in higher than forecast, fuelling fears of further interest rate hikes.
In other economic news, on Monday the European Commission said that its economic sentiment indicator for the single currency bloc nudged down to 99.7 from 99.8 in January, coming in below consensus expectations for a reading of 101.0.
And according to the European Central Bank, the Eurozone's M1 money supply shrank at a year-on-year pace of 0.7% in January after a 0.6% drop in December.
"This indicates that the fall in real narrow money was still accelerating in January, despite inflation easing, pointing to downside risks to our forecast for GDP to fall by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in Q1," said Melanie Debono at Pantheon Macroeconomics.
In equity news shares in distribution group Bunzl gained after a rise in full-year profits on the back of price rises.
Dechra Pharmaceuticals tanked 9% after reporting weaker first-half profits and issuing a profits warning.