British stocks lead European markets higher

British stocks led European markets to rise in early trading today as investors' risk appetite improved. The main indicators were as follows:

• The Eurostoxx index rose by 0.2%.
• The German DAX is up by 0.3%.
• The British FTSE Index rose by 0.8%.
• The French CAC40 rose by 0.2%.
• The Italian FTMIB is up by 0.2%.