LONDON, Nov 28: European stocks and the euro rebounded sharply on Monday after days of sustained heavy losses, with investors snapping up bargains despite a welter of what would normally be bad news. Dealers said a report that Italy was to get an International Monetary Fund bailout — later flatly denied — was taken positively.

On the positive side, the markets cheered strong US retail sales after the Thanksgiving holiday, suggesting that the US economy may be doing better than expected, with the data driving strong Wall Street gains as well.

In London, the FTSE-100 index of top companies rose 2.87 per cent to 5,312.76 points. In Paris, the CAC-40 soared 5.46 per cent to 3,012.93 points and in Frankfurt the DAX 30 jumped 4.60 per cent to 5,745.33 points.

Milan also gained 4.60 per cent and Madrid advanced 4.59 per cent, while other markets posted similar strong gains.—AFP