European shares headed for a higher open on Monday, with a sharp sell-off in the previous session seen prompting some investors to look for bargains and cover their short-positions.
At 0626 GMT, futures for the Euro STOXX 50, Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC 40 and Britain’s FTSE were 0.6 to 1.0 per cent higher.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index had closed 2.5 per cent lower at 1,392.63 points on Friday as uncertainty about the timing of a likely US rate hike remained after a mixed August jobs report.
“European equities are set to start with a pop higher this morning, making small inroads into recovering Friday’s super-sized losses,’’ Jonathan Sudaria, dealer at London Capital Group, said in a note.
“However, there’s little in the way of news out over the weekend that could’ve turned sentiment. Asian markets don’t seem to be showing the same optimism and so the likely cause for the higher open is merely a bit of short-covering ahead of an expected light session in the US due to Labour Day.’’
China’s stock market reopened after closing over Thursday and Friday as Beijing celebrated 70 years since the end of World War Two.
Shanghai shares initially rose as much as 1.8 per cent following remarks over the week-end by regulators aimed at calming the market, but the index was last down 1.6 per cent.
China’s policymakers and regulators tried to soothe jittery markets, promising deeper financial market reforms and stressing the economy was showing signs of stabilising.