The figures combined with news that Washington had finally passed a debt ceiling deal to avert a catastrophic default, while a report that China is looking at fresh support for its property sector also boosted sentiment.
Shanghai was helped by a Bloomberg News report that China was looking at measures to help its beleaguered property sector, which accounts for a huge portion of its economy.London, Paris and Frankfurt all climbed at the open.The latest advances across equities have come as investors bet the Fed will not tighten monetary policy at its meeting next week, though expectations are it will do so in July.
Meanwhile, there is a worry that with the borrowing limit standoff out of the way, the Treasury will launch a sale of around $1 trillion of debt to restock its coffers, sucking up cash from banks and sapping liquidity.