Sawt Falasteen - Stock markets rise before key rate decisions

Europe's main stock markets rose slightly in afternoon deals after Tokyo's market surged.

Oil prices made modest gains.

All eyes are on the US Federal Reserve, whose policy making committee meets this week and will announce any decisions Wednesday.

There are also rate calls this week from Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank.

"The Fed Reserve meeting is the main event this week," said XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks.

With no cut expected just yet, "focus will be on the latest economic forecasts", she added.

The Bank of England is expected to stand pat Thursday irrespective of the latest UK inflation reading due the previous day.

Investors also have their eyes on a Bank of Japan (BoJ) decision Tuesday, with policymakers expected to finally ditch the bank's negative interest rate.

- China data boost -

Asia's leading stock markets rose Monday after China posted stronger-than-expected industrial production data in what has so far been an uneven recovery for the world's second-largest economy.

Beijing's industrial production and fixed-asset investment figures were "surprisingly spritely", said Harry Murphy Cruise of Moody's Analytics. Shanghai closed up one percent and Hong Kong added 0.1 percent.

"China's economy had a stronger start to the year than expected," he told AFP, but warned that "we should take the latest data with a grain of salt" because last year's figures were marred by a rebound in Covid-19 cases.

Industrial production was up 7.0 percent year-on-year in January and February, beating the 6.8 percent rise in December.

The Japanese yen edged up versus the dollar, which eased also against the British pound and euro.

The Nikkei business daily reported that the BoJ plans to raise interest rates for the first time since 2007.

Strong wins for workers in annual pay negotiations have pointed to the central bank ending a long-standing policy designed to boost a flagging Japanese economy.

"The market is going to be firmly focused on central banks this week, although only one is expected to do anything," added Brooks.

- Key figures around 1230 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 7,745.93 points

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 8,179.89

Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 17,980.49

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.3 percent at 5,000.29

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.7 percent at 39,740.44 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.1 percent at 16,737.12 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 3,084.93 (close)

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 38,714.77 points (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0903 from $1.0891 on Friday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.06 yen from 149.08 yen

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2742 from $1.2737

Euro/pound: UP at 85.56 pence from 85.48 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $81.50 per barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $85.68 per barrel

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F.AbuZaid--SF-PST