European markets resist sharp fall

London: European shares reversed earlier losses and traded higher on Monday morning, with traders saying the European Central Bank was in the market buying bonds issued by Italy and Spain.

On Monday morning, Spain's IBEX 35 index .IBEX surged 3.6 percent and Italy's FTSE MIB .FTMIB rose 4.4 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 was up 0.6 percent at 981.30 points after falling as low as 961.32 earlier.