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LONDON (AFP) –
European stocks edged up on Monday, despite an earlier slump in Tokyo and a mixed pre-weekend performance on Wall Street, as investors eyed US bank results and fretted over the global economic outlook.
"Markets have been riddled with weakness, and sentiment will surely have to change dramatically if we are to see things improve," said ODL Securities analyst Owen Ireland.
Tokyo shares tumbled 2.55 percent in earlier deals, hit by political uncertainty after Prime Minister Taro Aso's party was defeated in a key weekend poll.
In morning European trading, London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.17 percent to 4,134.56 points.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.09 percent to 4,580.57 points and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.11 percent to 2,986.40 nearing the half-way mark.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares increased by a marginal 0.06 percent to 2,293.17 points.
On the foreign exchange market, the European single currency advanced to 1.3957 dollars.
"Results season for the US banks kicks off this week with some big name capital-market exposed banks dominating the agenda," said analyst Kevin McConnell at Bloxham stockbrokers in Dublin.
"Goldman Sachs release quarterly results on Tuesday, followed by JP Morgan on Thursday and Citigroup on Friday.
"It is expected to be a bumper set of results for the capital-market exposed banks, after a combination of strong new issuance and stronger asset values boosts bottom lines.
"Obviously, the damage in the real economy will also impact results with rising bad debt levels across all major loan exposures."
In Asia on Monday, Japan's key benchmark Nikkei-225 index dived 236.95 points to 9,050.33 points.
Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, reeling from a key poll defeat, drew the battle lines on Monday for an August snap election that could herald a major political upheaval in the world's number two economy.
Aso's party faces the prospect of being swept from power after half a century of almost unbroken rule as voters flock to the opposition amid anger over his handling of the recession and policy flip-flops, experts said.
Before the weekend, New York stocks finished mostly lower on Friday with investors fretting over fears that recovery from the global recession remains distant.
New York's Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed 0.45 percent to 8,146.53 in a lackluster session, closing out a fourth consecutive weekly loss for blue chips.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq edged up 0.20 percent to 1,756.03 while the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index dipped 0.40 percent to 879.13.
