China's stimulus spending boosts stocks

PARIS, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- An economic stimulus package announced in China helped boost stocks in Europe and Asia Monday, with gains highest in Asian markets.

A Chinese spending package was expected, but the size -- $586 billion -- surprised some analysts, The New York Times reported.

The plan to spend on airports, railroads and social programs was "much more aggressive than I expected; that's a lot of money to spend," Frank Gong at J.P. Morgan in London told the Times.

Construction and machinery firms gained on the news. With a large presence in China, Hitachi Construction Machinery stock gained 19 percent Monday, the Times reported.

But, the lift was broad-based. The Hang Seng index rose 3.5 percent in Hong Kong. The Nikkei index in Tokyo surged 5.8 percent. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX gained 1.4 percent.

In Europe, in midday trading, the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx index gained 3.1 percent. The FTSE 100 index in London was up 3.2 percent Monday, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 3.6 percent and the DAX in Germany was up 3.4 percent.