European markets trade flat in quiet session

Joshua Raymond, Market Strategist, City Index commented:"European markets traded largely flat on Monday in a quiet session as strength in the heavyweight miners and energy sectors balanced weakness in banking and real estate stocks.

It has been a slow start to the week without much drive behind equity moves today. Investors seem to be a bit hesitant as to whether Indices can push on from here after the recent strong gains that took the FTSE 100 to a new 17 month high.

Running out of steam?

Today's moves lacked vigour. Whilst this could simply be down to a slow return from the weekend by investors, it could also be because traders are a little hesitant as to how much further there is to go before some bouts of consolidation.

The FTSE 100 reached a new high again today but equities sold off into the close triggering equity markets across Europe to finish the day broadly unchanged to negative. This would insinuate that the strong run of gains may start to run out of steam.

The distinct vacuum of macro economic data today has also contributed to a lack of twists and turns for equities, reinforcing the rather quiet session.

The real strength today has been in the miners and energy firms who are higher on stronger commodity prices. BHP Billiton has been the stand out gainer for the miners."