In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose by 50.7 points in early trading to 6,367.8 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX index opened just 0.03 per cent higher at 7,040.25 points. And in Paris, the CAC 40 index was showing a gain of 1.07 per cent, or 67.75 points, mid-morning at 6,422.68 points.Dealers on the London market said that trading volume was extremely light.

Several brokers were on holiday, while others were sitting on the sidelines ahead of the publication of US jobs data at 1230 GMT. Economists predicted that US nonfarm payroll data would show a rise of 70,000 in July and that US hourly earnings would have risen by 0.3 per cent. The data will be key to assessing future changes to US interest rates.

A growing number of economists predicted that the Federal Reserve would raise rates after its monetary policy meeting on August 22. The European markets were content to follow gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, which rose by 2.77 per cent overnight.