Major European Markets Up In Positive Territory As Investors Eye Central Bank Meetings

 After a cautious start, European markets are up in positive territory Monday afternoon with investors picking up stocks amid hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. The Bank of England, which is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Thursday, is widely expected to hold rates steady. The Bank of Japan's policy announcement is also due this week.

The pan European Stoxx 600 was up 0.43% a little while ago. Germany's DAX was up 0.15%, and France's CAC 40 was gaining 1.1%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained a marginal 0.01%.

Despite a downward revision in France's long-term credit raating to A+ by Fitch Ratings, the French market is notably higher today, with stocks from several sectors turning in a good performance.

Kering, the biggest gainer in the CAC index, was up nearly 5% a few minutes ago. Thales and Societe Generale were up 4% and 3.6%, respectively, while STMicroElectronics gained about 3.1%.

Credit Agricole, LVMH, L'Oreal, BNP Paribas, Bouygues, Stellantis, Saint-Gobain, TotalEnergies, Accor, Vinci, Hermes International and Engie were up 1 to 2.5%.

Edenred, Dassault Systemes and Capgemini declined by 2%, 1.6% and 1.1%, respectively.

In the German market, Sartorius climbed nearly 3%. Rheinmetall, Infineon, Siemens Energy, Commerzbank, Porsche, Zalando, Continental, E.ON, Deutsche Bank, Puma and Fresenius were up 1 to 2.5%.

SAP drifted down by about 3.6%, and Symrise was down 1.2%. Qiagen, Deutsche Telekom, Bayer and Volkswagen were down with moderate losses.

In the UK market, Sainsbury (J) climbed by about 4.7%. The company has confirmed that it has ended talks to sell Argos to JD. Com, citing unfavourable terms. It is now expected that new suitors will emerge to acquire Argos.

Centrica surged 3.5%, Marks & Spencer advanced 3.2% and Beazley moved up 3%. Endeavour Mining, ICG, Rolls-Royce Holdings and DCC were also up sharply.

BT Group, AstraZeneca, Airtel Africa, Haleon, GSK, The Sage Group, Fresnillo and Diploma lost 1 to 2.7%.

In economic news, the euro area trade surplus declined in July as exports registered only a moderate growth, data from Eurostat showed.