Europe: Stocks climb at open on US election day

[LONDON] Europe's major stock markets advanced Tuesday at the open, after solid gains overnight, with all eyes on the US presidential election as Americans prepared to head to the polls.

In initial deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 rose 1.1 per cent to 5,715.53 points, the Paris CAC 40 added 0.9 per cent to 4,734.09 and Frankfurt's DAX 30 was up 0.6 per cent at 11,860.97.

"Today, the economic calendar is relatively quiet in the UK and eurozone, with events on the other side of the Atlantic expected to drive sentiment as attention switches firmly to election day," said City Index analyst Fiona Cincotta.

"Investors are bracing themselves for plenty of market moving headlines later tonight which is expected to bring significant volatility," she added.

Asian markets extended gains Tuesday as Americans readied to vote in one of the most keenly watched elections ever, with traders betting on a Democratic sweep of the White House and Congress that would likely see a huge new economic stimulus package agreed.

Joe Biden has maintained his healthy lead over Donald Trump in national polls for weeks as the president is buffeted by his handling of the coronavirus, which is seeing a resurgence across the country.

While Tuesday is formally Election Day, in reality Americans have been voting for weeks. With a huge expansion in mail-in voting to safeguard against the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 100 million people have already made their choice.

AFP