European shares rise on Wall Street bounce; ECB decision in focus

European shares opened higher on Monday, catching the tailwind from a bounce on Wall Street that drove the benchmark S&P 500 to a record peak in the previous session, while investors await the European Central Bank's policy decision due this week. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.7%, as of 0810 GMT, following a 1.5% decline last week.

European shares opened higher on Monday, catching the tailwind from a bounce on Wall Street that drove the benchmark S&P 500 to a record peak in the previous session, while investors await the European Central Bank's policy decision due this week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.7%, as of 0810 GMT, following a 1.5% decline last week. The S&P 500 index scaled a record high on Friday, the first in two years, fuelled by a rally in U.S. chipmakers and heavyweight technology stocks.

Technology stocks in the euro zone climbed 1.2% on Monday. Adding to the sector's gains, ASML Holdings gained 2.2% after Bernstein upgraded the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker's rating to "outperform" from "market-perform".

Investor attention has sharpened on the ECB's monetary policy decision, due on Jan. 25, to ascertain the timing of interest rate cuts from the central bank. Among other movers, shares of Kindred jumped 16.8% after French gaming company La Francaise des Jeux launched a takeover offer for its European online peer in a $.28 billion deal. La Francaise's shares climbed nearly 5%.