European stocks rise after Greece approves austerity bill

LONDON: Europe's stock markets climbed on Monday after Greek lawmakers approved drastic austerity measures, amid violent street battles between police and protesters in the streets of Athens.

In opening deals, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.67 percent to 5,891.53 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.83 percent to 6,748.68 and the Paris CAC 40 won 0.84 percent to 3,401.46 points.

In foreign exchange trading, the European single currency increased to $1.3255, compared with $1.3181.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos pushed through another package of savage austerity cutbacks on Sunday, arguing that the measures were "the country's only hope" to avoid economic meltdown and secure another bailout.

However, Athens was rocked by violence, with an estimated 80,000 protesters descending on the Greek capital to voice their opposition, sparking speculation that the cutbacks would be hard to enforce.

"Despite protestors laying waste to Athens in a sign of how unpopular the proposed bill was, Papademos's far darker image of Greece without the bailout was grim enough to coerce a majority out of the parliament," said analyst Jonathan Sudaria at trading firm Capital Spreads.

"However, given what has been achieved, gains are seen as only modest as concerns now shift to the implementation risk of the austerity measures.

"With 30 percent of the parliament either abstaining or voting against the bill already, fears are that the public venom could be repeated at April's elections which would see a large swath of support swept away and a less co-operative government installed."

Asian markets mostly rose after Sunday's vote. During the debate about 20,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki.

"The news from Greece has clearly helped sentiment in Asia and may well have a positive impact on Monday's trading across the globe," said broker Owen Ireland at Valbury Capital.

The latest austerity package was a key chapter in Greece's fiscal saga with lawmakers racing to secure a second bailout package, and avoid defaulting on its massive debt.