Picture used for illustrative purpose. File

Gulf Today Report

European shares hit its nine-month high on Monday as Asian data look promising and COVID-19 vaccine seems on the way. 

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.7% by 08:05 GMT, with banks and travel stocks gaining the most.

In October, China recorded fast growth in its factory output, sales in retail soared as the economic recovery gains momentum. 

READ MORE 

Gold climbs as coronavirus cases surge

Oil jumps as investors remain hopeful of OPEC+ curbing supply

Asia-Pacific economies form free trade bloc

Asian Shares 

Asian shares climb on Monday following a 500 hit on Friday, also data from Japan and China are looking promising for economic recovery. 

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8% to 25,852.74 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong picked up 0.4% to 26,263.41. The Kospi in South Korea surged 1.9% to 2,541.04 and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.2% to 6,484.30. The Shanghai Composite index gained 1% to 3,342.23. 

In Hong Kong, Tokyo and other regions, stock benchmarks rose. 

Japan, the world’s third-largest economy advanced at 21% in the last quarter. Chinese economic data is also growing, it showed recovery in October.

However, economists are speculating that recovery might be slow due to restrictions that have affected tourism.