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European stocks mark time

London - Europe's main stock markets traded narrowly mixed on Monday, supported by solid Chinese and US economic data following last week's shake up to eurozone interest rates, traders said.

London's FTSE 100 index of top shares rose 0.15% to stand at 6 868.78 points in afternoon deals.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 edged up 0.3% compared with Friday's closing levels to 9 990.10 points and the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.02% to 4 580.33.

"Investors have welcomed a positive new report on employment figures (from the US on Friday) and they are equally encouraged by Chinese foreign trade figures," said Craig Erlam, an analyst with Alpari trading group.

Official data from Beijing on Sunday showed China's trade surplus surged in May.

Exports increased 7.0% year-on-year and imports declined 1.6%, resulting in a trade surplus of $35.92bn, the General Administration of Customs announced.

The mining sector won support on the back of the data, with shares in Anglo American gaining 0.2% to 1 468 pence and Randgold Resources up 0.7% to 4 385 pence.

Elsewhere, shares in Lloyds Banking Group slid 1.4% to 79.0 pence. State-rescued LBG on Monday proposed a pricing of 220-290 pence a share when it floats one quarter of its TSB bank division.

Royal Bank of Scotland, another bailed-out lender, was rising 1.1% to 342.4 pence.

Market were relatively calm amid public holidays in Germany and France.

"With the reaction to the exceptional measures announced by the (European) Central Bank now behind us, this week should give us a good indication of the long-term positions investors will take across all assets," said Jasper Lawler, an analyst with CMC Markets.

Wall Street opens up

US stocks opened slightly higher on Monday after last week's records amid a fresh burst of merger and acquisition activity on Wall Street.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.06% to 16 934.97 points.

The S&P 500 gained 0.07% to 1 950.83 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.11% to 4 325.95.

Tyson Foods, the world's second-largest meat processor, won the bidding war for sausage and hot dog maker Hillshire Foods against rival Pilgrim's Pride with an offer worth $8.6bn.

Hillshire shares jumped 4.8%, while Tyson fell 1.4% and Pilgrim's lost 1.0%.

Asian stock markets mostly rose on Monday, buoyed by another record close on Wall Street in response to an impressive US jobs report, the Chinese export figures and an upward revision of Japanese economic growth, traders said.

Official data on Friday showed the US economy added 217 000 jobs in May, bringing the total number in the country above the level at the beginning of the deep 2008 to 2009 recession for the first time.

Elsewhere last week, in a move hailed as "unprecedented" by analysts, the European Central Bank lowered the rate at which it pays commercial banks for depositing their unused cash into negative territory for the time, cutting it from zero percent to minus 0.10%.

This means banks will be charged for depositing their excess cash with the ECB in a bid to encourage lending.

In foreign exchange trading on Monday, the European single currency eased to $1.3613 from $1.3641 late in New York on Friday.

The euro slipped to 81.00 British pence from 81.19 pence.

The British pound rose to $1.6805 from $1.6799 on Friday.

On the London Bullion Market, gold climbed to $1 255.00 an ounce on Monday from $1 247.50 on Friday.

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