File photo for representational purposes only.
Brussels: European stocks climbed on Monday, led by defense company shares, as prominent regional leaders called for an emergency summit on Russia's military operation in Ukraine. This comes amid growing American calls to increase defense spending for security purposes.
The European STOXX 600 index rose 0.2 percent, marking its longest streak of weekly gains since March 2024, as of last Friday.
The aerospace and defense index jumped 2.5 percent today.
Shares of British company BAE Systems surged 5.1 percent, while German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall saw its stock climb 10.7 percent.
The German DAX index also rose 0.2 percent.
It is worth noting that US markets are closed today for a public holiday, which has limited trading volumes from their usual levels.
