European stocks add to pre-weekend gains

European stock markets rose steadily on Monday after spiking sharply ahead of the weekend on better-than-expected US jobs data and some belated optimism over the eurozone debt crisis, traders said. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies edged up 0.04 percent to 5,789.51 points in late morning deals. Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.58 percent to 6,905.28 points and in Paris the CAC 40 climbed 0.30 percent to 3,384.36 points. Madrid rose 0.25 percent and Milan added 0.68 percent. "Markets are looking to extend Friday's positive tone this morning, with a healthy session in Asia overnight adding support," said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital trading group. "Volatility is expected to remain pretty high given a lack of volumes as the summer season is in full swing. The US market open should offer some much needed direction," he added. Markets shot higher Friday and in Asia on Monday after the US economy, the world's biggest, added 163,000 jobs in July -- the strongest gain since February and beating forecasts for a rise of 100,000. Despite a 0.1 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate to 8.3 percent the figures were welcomed by investors who took the report as a sign of resilience in the US economy. The figures were doubly welcomed by markets which tumbled Thursday when the European Central Bank failed to announce concrete plans to support the euro, despite Mario Draghi saying earlier, the ECB would do whatever was needed. However, the initial disappointment was reversed after officials on Friday said the ECB could intervene and buy the bonds of struggling eurozone countries without unanimous approval. Those comments raised hopes that a bond buying programme to help struggling countries such as Spain and Italy was still possible. "The initial sense of disappointment which followed last week's ECB policy meeting has soon been replaced by building optimism that the European authorities will soon implement more effective measures to dampen government bond yields in Italy and Spain," said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in London. The European single currency hit a one-month high at $1.2444 in Asian trading on Monday. It later eased back to $1.2372, slightly down from $1.2381 late Friday in New York. Asian stock markets rebounded strongly Monday, with Tokyo closing up 2.0 percent, Hong Kong 1.69 percent and Sydney 1.21 percent. On Wall Street Friday, the Dow jumped 1.69 percent, the Nasdaq climbed 2.0 percent and the S&P 500 rose 1.90 percent. "On Friday, European and US equities enjoyed extremely strong finishes to the week after a better-than-expected non-farm payrolls report and hints from Spain that it might finally consider requesting full assistance from the EU's rescue funds prompted a sharp 'risk-on' rally," said Cameron Peacock, analyst at traders IG Markets.