EUROPE MARKETS: Europe Stocks Rise; Novozymes Jumps

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets moved higher on Monday, taking a cue from a strong U.S. close last week and encouraging comments from the German Bundesbank.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.3% to close at 287.78, climbing back after a soft decline on Friday.

"People are more optimistic this year, which is justified after the bearish sentiment last year, but the macro challenges haven't diminished at all," said James Ashley, senior European economist at RBC Capital Markets.

"Some of the tail risks have been removed, but we still have to address fiscal consolidation and a banking union, so there's still a lot of hard work to be done," he added.

Shares of Novozymes AS rallied 7%, after the Danish biotech firm reported a 38% rise in fourth-quarter net income to 1.56 Danish kroner ($0.28) a share from 1.13 kroner in the year-ago period. For the 2013 outlook, the company said it expected to be able to retain the current level of profitability.

The company further said that as of April 1, Peder Holk Nielsen would take over as president and chief executive.

Shares of Admiral Group PLC jumped 4.9%, after Goldman Sachs lifted the firm to buy from neutral and added the car insurer to its conviction-buy list.

On a more downbeat note, shares of Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA sank 5.6%, after the high-end watchmaker issued a cautious outlook and posted lower-than-expected sales for the fiscal third quarter.

The broader European stock markets mirrored gains on Wall Street on Friday, when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said that the House of Representatives will vote this week to authorize a three-month increase in the debt ceiling to give Congress time to pass a budget.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Day.

Most Asian markets ended lower, led by Japan, as a two-day meeting at the Bank of Japan got under way.

Back in Europe, remarks by the German Bundesbank helped markets stay in positive territory. The bank said in its monthly review that the prospects for the German economy has improved, as companies' expectations have brightened. The report came just a month after the central bank slashed its forecast for German growth in 2013 to 0.4% from an earlier 1.6% estimate and warned that the economy could sink into recession in the winter months.

"We know that the German economy probably suffered in Q4 and that it may suffer in Q1 as well. But if you look at the structural fundamentals in Germany, they are fairly robust," said Ashley from RBC Capital Market.

"We are still largely upbeat, but it's quite telling that the German economy, which is one of the strongest in Europe, only will grow around 0.5% this year," he said.

Also on the European agenda, euro-zone finance ministers met for the first time in 2013, with investors speculating that they could name a new chairman as soon as Monday evening.

Movers

Among notable movers, shares of Unilever PLC (UL) gained 0.5% in London, as Investec Securities raised the foods producer to buy from hold ahead of fourth-quarter earnings later in the week.

On a more downbeat note in London, shares of Pearson PLC slumped 2.9%, after the publishing firm cut its earnings forecasts for 2012.

The FTSE 100 index put on 0.4% to 6,180.98, the highest closing level since May 2008.

In France, shares of Carrefour SA rose 2.6% to 20.74 euros ($27.61), after Credit Suisse raised the target price on the supermarket retailer to EUR25 from EUR20.

Shares of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton dropped 1%, tracking luxury-goods peer Richemont lower.

The CAC 40 index picked up 0.6% to 3,763.03.

Outside the main index in France, shares of Air France-KLM gained 4% to EUR8.42, after Citigroup doubled the price target on the airline to EUR9.

Germany's DAX 30 index closed 0.6% higher at 7,748.86, with BASF SE shares up 0.9%. The chemicals firm said it is preparing a squeeze-out of the remaining shareholders of Norway's Pronova Biopharma ASA.

Outside the major indexes, shares of PostNL NV jumped 6.9%, after Nomura lifted the stock to neutral from reduce.

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