The German stock market steadily expanded its moderate initial gains on Monday. The Dax passed the 12,600 point mark and was last listed 1.3 percent higher at 12,604 points.

In the previous week, the leading German index had increased by around 1.3 percent. The MDax of medium-sized German companies gained 1.9 percent on Monday afternoon to 22,756 points. The leading eurozone index, the EuroStoxx 50, rose by 1.2 percent.

With a price increase of 1.7 percent, Lufthansa shares braced themselves against negative news from the subsidiary Eurowings. The pilots of the low-cost airline went on a three-day tariff strike on Monday morning.

After a gloomy outlook for the medical and safety technology company, Drägerwerk shares fell by 4.5 percent at the end of the SDax.

At the financial service provider Hypoport, the fall in demand for real estate as a result of rising interest rates and economic risks is causing business to drop.

Upbeat comment from JPMorgan pushed Morphosys' stock recovery to the highest level since mid-August. They were last traded up 9.6 percent.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro rate was last listed at 0.9754 US dollars. The European Central Bank set the reference rate at $0.9717 on Friday. On the bond market, the current yield rose from 2.11 percent on Friday to 2.15 percent. The Rex pension index increased by 0.10 percent to 127.12 points. The Bund future gained 0.84 percent to 137.34 points.