European shares calmed by ECB, UAE rebounds, but Asia falls

Markets Latest: European shares rise as Sunday's statement from the European Central Bank saying it was ready to buy Italian and Spanish debt brings a small element of confidence to investors.

European stock markets shrugged off fears of panic on Monday morning, after the European Central Bank on Sunday said it would intervene by buying Spanish and Italian debt.

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The Euro Stoxx 50 Index was up 2.1 per cent to 2426.34 points at 12:20 Abu Dhabi time, while the FTSE 100 Index gained 0.9 per cent to 5925.66 points.

Asian markets, however, fell sharply this morning with China's Hang Seng Index down 1.8 per cent to 20,565.80 points and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index down 2.1 per cent to 9097.56 points.

In the UAE, Abu Dhabi and Dubai shares rebounded today after an aggressive sell-off on Sunday's trading session. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index was up 0.3 per cent to 2612.43 points, while the Dubai Financial Market General Index was up 0.7 per cent to 1495.44 points. The local benchmarks were down 2.5 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

Elsewhere in the region, both Kuwait and Bahrain's measures were little changed at 5966.40 points and 1276.14 points respectively. Qatar's index was down 0.4 per cent to 8240.11 points. The Saudi Tadawul All Share was little changed at 6078.05 points.