Global stocks rose sharply Monday as subdued Chinese inflation, a rebound by Japanese markets and the latest easing of tensions over Ukraine helped offset unease about Iraq, AP reported. KEEPING SCORE: In morning European trade, German's DAX surged 1.4 percent to 9,132.36 and France's CAC-40 added 1 percent to 4,189.48. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.8 percent to 6,619.15. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 both rose 0.3 percent. On Friday, the Dow added 1.1 percent and the S&P was up 1.2 percent. ASIA'S DAY: Tokyo's Nikkei 225 soared 2.4 percent to 15,130.52 points and China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4 percent to 2,224.65. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.3 percent to 24,650.30. Seoul's Kospi was up 0.4 percent at 2,039.37. India's Sensex rose 0.8 percent to 25,526.87 and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 5,457. CHINESE INFLATION: China's consumer in July stayed at 2.3 percent, well below the official target for the year of 3.5 percent. That gives the central bank room to ease access to credit if needed to shore up economic growth, which was 7.5 percent in the latest quarter. That would lower the cost of financing for stock trading, helping to support markets. JAPAN'S REBOUND: Japanese stocks rose as investors hunted bargains following the Nikkei's 5 percent slide last week. ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil for September delivery rose 13 cents to $97.78 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, boosted by unease about possible disruptions to supplies from Iraq and Russia. The contract rose 31 cents to settle at $97.65 in the previous session. CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 102.09 yen from the previous session's 102.05 yen. The euro declined to $1.3396 from $1.3411.
