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London - European stock markets rose on Monday as investor attention focused on the Ukraine-Russia crisis following disputed referendums at the weekend, analysts said.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.20% to stand at 6 828.29 points in morning deals.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 climbed 0.25% to 9 605.16 points and in Paris the CAC 40 eased 0.12% to 4 471.71 compared to Friday's closing values.
Fierce selling
"Once again the weekend has brought with it heightened concerns over Ukraine, with the referendum, unsurprisingly, holding in favour of a break away from Kiev," said Spreadex trader David White.
"But the market seems a little more comfortable with risk at this point, needing more to induce fierce selling than when the crisis first took hold.
"Indeed, worry over this issue failed to dampen optimism for Asian stocks, as hopes for government stimulus last night helped inflate China-listed stocks," he added.
Pro-Russian rebels claimed late on Sunday that voters in eastern Ukraine massively backed independence, in disputed polls which Kiev and the West dismissed as an illegal "farce".
Increased
The West also rejected the self-determination poll amid fears that these disputed votes could hasten the break-up of the former Soviet Republic and lead to a civil war on Europe's eastern edge.
The euro rose to $1.3763 from $1.3758 late in New York on Friday.
The European single currency dropped to 81.48 pence from 81.63 pence on Friday, while the British pound increased to $1.6891 from $1.6844.
The price of gold dipped to $1 291.06 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1 291.25 on Friday.
On the corporate front, shares in BSkyB slid 2.25% to 869.95 pence after the British pay-TV group said it had held talks to buy 21st Century Fox's interests in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia to create a pan-European television giant.
Engineering
BSkyB, which is 39% owned by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox, said it had "initiated preliminary discussions" with the group "to evaluate the potential acquisition of its pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy".
The price of shares in Siemens gained 0.71% to €97.36 after the German engineering giant said it is starting a share buyback programme costing up to €4bn.
The share buyback was announced in November last year, while up until October 2015, Siemens will repurchase up to 47.8m shares, it said in a statement.
US stock markets had touched fresh closing highs on Friday, with investors shrugging off mixed earnings reports, traders said.
