Europe Open: Shares up on china data, Trump move on jobs package

European shares opened unexpectedly higher as investors took their cue from a strong US close on Friday and encouraging data from China.

All major European bourses were in the green, helping the pan-European Stoxx 600 index start the week up 0.53%. President Donald Trump’s decision to extend jobless support measures via executive orders as Congressional leaders failed to agree on a deal boosted sentiment.

Chinese inflation data also helped to underpin the tone. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed factory gate prices fell at a slower pace in July, with consumer inflation up on the back of higher food prices.

“The signing by the President Trump of a number of executive orders to mitigate the loss of the $600 enhanced unemployment benefit appears to have introduced an element of comfort to markets who believe rightly, or wrongly that there will be a longer term agreement in the coming weeks,” said CMC Markets chief analyst Michael Hewson.

Shares in energy giants BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total rose nearly 2% on firmer crude oil prices after Saudi Aramco raised optimism about Asian demand and Iraq pledged to deepen supply cuts.

Cineworld shares were a top gainer, tracking risews for US peers on Friday after a US judge granted the government’s request to end the Paramount Decrees, a set of antitrust rules from the 1940s and 1950s that banned film studios from owning theatres.

French engineering company Spie was up after a broker upgrade.