LIVE MARKETS-Half-time in Europe: STOXX closing in on a 1% rise

Travel and leisure stocks .SXTP are up roughly 2.3%, the second largest sectoral gainer behind retail stocks .SXRP which have added almost 2.6%. Oil and gas stocks .SXEP are meanwhile by far the biggest sectoral faller, down around 2.1%.

Indices across Europe are also broadly in positive territory - the DAX .GDAXI is up 1.7%, the CAC .FCHI is 1% higher and the FTSE .FTSE is up 0.6%.

Europe's cross-regional STOXX 600 has been on the rise all morning, and just after the half-way mark for the European trading day it is up 0.9%. That already puts it on track for its best day since early July.

Not a bad start to the week on a day where not all that much is going on. Although perhaps that is exactly what is causing the move higher - things seem relatively quiet in the Middle East, which has sent oil prices lower and sparked some fresh optimism about the conflict being resolved diplomatically.