Europe stocks rise at open on Greece polls

European stock markets rallied at the start of trading on Monday after opinion polls indicated a victory for pro-austerity conservatives in Greece's upcoming general election. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 0.80 percent to 5,394.15 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 rallied 1.34 percent to 6,425.10 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.67 percent to 3,068.34. Greek pro-bailout conservative party New Democracy is favourite to secure most seats in the June 17 general elections but without an outright majority, a series of opinion polls showed on Sunday. The new polls point to a New Democracy victory ranging between 23.3 percent and 25.8 percent of the vote, a result that would require the party to seek additional allies to form a viable government. Even so, such an outcome in next month's vote could mean that Greece would respect the terms of its European Union-International Monetary Fund bail-out and remain a member of the eurozone. "European equities markets are starting off the new trading week on a firmer footing helped by the latest Greek opinion polls putting pro-bail out party New Democracy into a commanding lead," said ETX Capital trader Markus Huber. "It seems like that there is slowly a shift taking place within part of the Greek electorate, where anger and frustration about having to endure endless austerity measures are being replaced by the notion that rejecting austerity measures followed by a potential exit out of the euro will bring even more hardship." In Madrid, the price of shares in Bankia bank plunged by nearly 27.0 percent when trading was resumed after a suspension when the bank requested a state-funded bailout.