European equities kick off week with gains

European stock markets rose steadily on Monday with trading quiet in the absence of any major data releases, analysts said.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 0.29 percent to stand at 6,586.10 points approaching midday in the British capital, lifted by firmer mining share prices.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.14 percent to 9,304.71 points and in Paris, the CAC 40 won 0.17 percent to 4,197.21.
Miners and oil majors were higher as commodity prices rebounded from recent heavy falls.
"It’s been a quiet start to the European session on Monday, as a lack of economic data combined with little direction from the Asian session overnight leave the markets lacking any significant catalysts," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari trading group.
Europe's main markets had closed mixed on Friday following broadly upbeat US jobs data.
In the United States, the Dow and S&P 500 stocks indices ended Friday with record high closes after the Labor Department said the economy added 214,000 jobs last month.
While that figure was weaker than forecast, the previous two months' job gains were revised upward and the US unemployment rate slipped to a six-year low.
In Monday's foreign exchange deals, the single European currency climbed to $1.2498 from $1.2456 late in New York on Friday.
The euro advanced to 78.60 British pence from 78.48 pence, while the British pound grew to $1.5901 from $1.5869 on Friday.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold increased to $1,172 an ounce from a $1,154.50 on Friday.
In company news, Cairn Energy said it had unearthed another oil find off the coast of Senegal.
It comes after the British energy explorer last month said it made its first oil find in a field off the coast of Senegal, prompting the west African country to say that it aimed to begin pumping its own oil in about five years' time.
Cairn Energy chief executive Simon Thomson described the latest find as "significant" for the company and Senegal.
The new discovery was made at Cairn's SNE-1 well, situated about 100 kilometres (60 miles) off the country's coast.
Cairn's share price surged 11.26 percent to stand at 175.68 pence in London deals.
In mining shares, Anglo American rose 0.99 percent to 1,378 pence in early trading.
Elsewhere, Britain's scandal-hit services giant Serco cut its profits outlook and revealed plans to shrink the group after taking an impairment charge of £1.5 billion ($2.4 billion or 1.9 billion euros), sending shares plunging by almost a third to 220.19 pence.