European stocks rose

European stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest weekly drop in five months, as Italy elected a president and the Group of 20 refrained from opposing the Bank of Japan’s stimulus policies.

Italian bonds advanced, pushing the yield on the two-year notes to as little as 1.208 percent, the lowest since began compiling the data in 1993.

Giorgio Napolitano was elected to a second term as Italy’s president after accepting a last-minute appeal from party leaders to run again. The 87-year-old incumbent won the backing of parties led by former premier Silvio Berlusconi, caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti and outgoing Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda emerged from the G-20 meeting saying he was emboldened to press ahead with the campaign to defeat deflation. The central bank meets this week after pledging April 4 to double the monetary base in two years.

Italy’s FTSE MIB Index advanced 2.3 percent as Banco Popolare, the nation’s fourth-biggest bank by assets, rose 4.6 percent to 1.10 euros. Mediobanca SpA, Italy’s largest publicly traded investment bank, added 3.3 percent to 4.73 euros while UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest lender, gained 4.6 percent to 3.79 euros.

Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Italy’s biggest insurer, added 5.2 percent to 13.48 euros. The stock was raised to overweight, a rating similar to buy, from equal weight at Barclays Plc, which said the company may raise its dividend this year.

Delhaize soared 11 percent to 47.33 euros, the biggest jump since March 2009. First-quarter operating profit before one-time items rose 13 percent to 214 million euros ($279 million), the Brussels-based company said. Analysts had projected a decline to 175 million euros, according to the average of 17 estimates published on the company’s website. Comparable sales in the U.S. advanced 1.9 percent, the most in six quarters, and rose 2.4 percent in Belgium, corrected for a calendar impact.

FTSE 100 6,334.38 +47.79 +0.76%

CAC 40 3,669.33 +17.37 +0.48%

DAX 7,512.52 +52.56 +0.70%