World markets rise at start of new week

World stock markets rose again Monday amid ongoing hopes that corporate earnings will outperform expectations and give another signal that the global recession loosening its grip.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 7.75 points, or 0.2 percent, at 4584.36 with publishing group Pearson PLC up around 10 percent after it raised its earnings guidance for the year despite testing market conditions.
However, Rexam PLC, Europe's biggest maker of cans for the drinks industry, slid over 10 percent after it confirmed it may raise 350 million pounds via the issue of new shares to help it pay down its debt burden.
Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 index was 18.61 points, or 0.6 percent higher at 3385.06 while Germany's DAX jumped 58.33 points or 1.1 percent, to 5287.69 with commercial bank AG the biggest riser after it sold its Swiss Dresden Bank unit to the LGT Group of Liechtenstein. Commercial bank shares rose 7 percent.
Stocks around the world have rallied strongly over the last couple of weeks after better than expected US earnings pushed many of the world's leading indexes to 2009 highs amid hopes that the worst of the recession was over. Equities usually rally around 6-9 months before actual economic growth emerges.
While most of the focus has centered on US earnings, the European reporting season really kicks into gear this week, providing investors with crucial insights about whether the recession is easing as much as it apparently is in the US.
Among others, steel company Arcelor Mittal, Deutsche bank AG, car-maker Daimler AG, chemical company BASFSA and France Telecoms SA will report their earnings in coming days and investors will be interested to see if the recent improvement in forward-looking surveys is being felt in the real world.
It's a quieter week in the US than of late though there will be a lot of interest in earnings from the likes of media company time Warner Inc, Dow Chemical Co, Colgate-Palmolive Co and Exxon Mobil Corp.
Despite the early gains this week analysts warned that the markets may well take a breather and book some profits accumulated over the last couple of weeks.
"If seems holding on to those gains may be the biggest issue as at one point traders will look to book profits on the recent rally," said jimmy Yates, head of equities at CMC Markets.
At the moment, the rally was set to continue on wall street. Dow futures were up 33 points, or 0.4 percent, at 9091 while the broader standard and Poor's 500 futures rose 3.1 points, or 0.3 percent to 980.90. Both would set new highs for 2009 should they open as solidity as anticipated by the futures markets.
Earlier, Asian markets extended their winning streak, with many of the major indexes up 1percent or more.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock average added 144.11 points, or 1.5 percent to 10088.66, and Hong kong's Hang Seng rose 268.83 or 1.4 percent to 20251.62.
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.4 percent and Australia's stock measure was up by 1.2 percent.
In Shanghai, the main index climbed 1.9 percent, buoyed by the strong performance of tehe first company to list on China's main stock exchange in 11 months.
Sichuan Expressway Co surged 324 percent to 15.25 yuan ($2.22) per share before falling back to end the day at 10.90 yuan ($1.59)- still a 203 percent gain over the price that shares were sold for in its initial public offering. The company was the first to start trading in Shanghai since regulators ended a ban on IPO s in June.