MILAN/FRANKFURT: European shares jumped on Monday, bouncing from their worst weekly decline since October powered by a rise in shares of miners after an ongoing retail frenzy shifted its attention to silver.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.1%, with shares of miners including Fresnillo, Polymetal International and Boliden AB jumping between 5% and 20%.

Silver has become the latest focus of a frenzied online movement by retail investors to push up values of assets that big fund managers had bet against. Silver prices surged to an eight-year high on Monday.

The European basic resources index jumped 2.4%, on track for its best day since early January.

“What we are seeing is an aggressive move higher on silver, which has obviously propped up the mining sector,” said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

All major European regional indexes were higher in early trading, with Britain’s FTSE 100 up 0.9% and German shares adding 1.4%.

Data showed German retail sales plunged far more than expected in December as a decision to tighten lockdown measures during the COVID-19 pandemic choked consumer spending in Europe’s largest economy.

The STOXX 600 had logged declines of over 3% in the previous week, on concerns around the slow roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines and as a retail trading frenzy led to a rise in volatility.

Among other stocks, Ryanair shed 2% after saying it expects to lose close to 1 billion euros in its current financial year, by far its worst ever performance.

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