The Dax, which was lethargic before the weekend, headed back towards the 18,000 point mark on Monday. In the first minutes of trading, the leading German index rose by 0.25 percent to 17,980.77 points. This also brought him closer to the record high of 18,039 points that he reached last Thursday. The MDax of medium-sized companies gained 0.49 percent to 26,192.35 points on Monday morning. The Eurozone leading index EuroStoxx 50 rose by 0.21 percent.

At the beginning of a “central bank week”, good guidance from the Asian stock exchanges provided particular support. The Japanese Nikkei 225 rose sharply again thanks to the weak yen and is aiming to continue its recent record hunt. Prices on China's stock exchanges also went up. New data from the country on industrial production and retail suggest further recovery in the world's second-largest economy.