European stocks higher

European stocks headed higher Monday, on course to post a fifth straight advance, with U.K. stocks faring well in the wake of the sudden resignation of David Davis, the U.K.’s top negotiator with the European Union over Brexit.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.6%, paced by gains for tech and consumer services shares. But the utility and telecom sectors were lower. The pan-European index on Friday gained 0.2%, and finished last week with a rise of 0.6%.

France’s CAC 40 added 0.6%, while Germany’s DAX 30 index rose a more modest 0.2%. In London, the FTSE 100 index picked up 0.3%. Spain’s IBEX 35 moved up 0.3%.

European equities keyed off advances in Asian equity markets, including in China where the Shanghai Composite shot up 2.5%. Some analysts say global stock markets were buoyed by Friday’s rally on Wall Street, which came after the nonfarm payrolls report showed more U.S. jobs were created in June than expected and wage inflation remained subdued.

Meanwhile in London, investors pulled up both the FTSE 100 blue-chips index and the more domestically focused FTSE 250 index despite the sudden resignation Sunday night of David Davis, who lead the U.K.’s Brexit discussions with the European Union.

On Friday, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May appeared to have united her cabinet around a new Brexit plan after a day of wrangling at her Chequers retreat. But with Davis stepping down, that potentially puts that new plan at risk. The “general direction of policy will leave us in at best a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one,” Davis said in his resignation letter.

It also looks likely to throw May’s government into chaos, especially if she goes on to face a formal challenge to her leadership from within her own Conservative Party. The odds on that happening and of a new general election this year are seen as having shortened.