Europe Shares Rally On Monday Amid Spain Aid Request

European stock markets rallied on Monday after Spain over the weekend asked the European Union for aid to help the country’s ailing banking sector.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (XX:SXXP) +1.28% jumped 1.9% to 246.41. The gains in Europe were helped by Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos asking the EU for much as 100 billion euros ($126 billion) in loans to help the banks, after a teleconference call with euro-zone finance ministers on Saturday. The aid will be provided by the European Financial Stability Facility /European Stability Mechanism.

Spanish shares soared, with the IBEX 35 index (XX:IBEX) +2.71% jumping 4.5% to 6,847.20. Banks rallied: CaixaBank SA (ES:CABK) +4.13% surged 6%, Bankinter SA (ES:BKT) +5.31% took on 7.6%, while BBVA SA (ES:BBVA) +4.08% BBVA +1.73% added 6.4%. Heavyweight Banco Santander SA ES:SAN +3.63% STD +2.86% rose 5.8%.

STD +2.86% Elsewhere, financials were also higher. In France, insurance firm AXA SA (FR:CS) +4.19% advanced 4.6%, while Credit Agricole SA (FR:ACA) +3.78% rose 3.1% and Société Générale SA (FR:GLE) +3.74% moved up 3.1%. The CAC 40 index (FR:PX1) +1.52% was up 1.9% at 3,110.38.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBK) +3.08% posted the biggest gain, up 4.5%, helping lift the DAX 30 index (DX:DAX) +1.81% 2.3% to 6,273.31.

Auto makers were also supporting the index. Volkswagen AG (DE:VOW3) +4.14% (DE:VOW) +3.28% added 4.4%, BMW AG DE:BMW +1.63% climbed 2.9% and Daimler AG (DE:DAI) +2.27% increased 2.8%.

Among U.K. shares, miners and oil firms buoyed the FTSE 100 index (UK:UKX) +0.87% to a 1.8% gain to 5,529.88.

Vedanta Resources PLC (UK:VED) +2.46% added 5.5%, Evraz PLC (UK:EVR) +2.83% rose 5.1% and Rio Tinto PLC (UK:RIO) +2.28% RIO -4.12% took on 4.7%.

Oil group BP PLC (UK:BP) +2.18% BP -0.99% gained 1.9% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC (UK:RDSA) +0.81% (UK:RDSB) +0.17% RDS.A -0.16% RDS.B -0.12% ticked 1.4% higher.
This was according to data compiled by Market Watch.