Focus on Merkel-Sarkozy meeting

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Signs of improvement in the German and U.S. economies helped offset concerns over the prospects for euro zone debt auctions later this week, lifting the single currency and European shares on Monday.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares opened up by around 0.2 percent to 1015.88. The MSCI world equity index was also up over 0.1 percent despite a weaker session on Asian markets.

German exports jumped 2.5 percent in November, data showed on Monday, unexpectedly widening the trade surplus in a sign Europe's largest economy is still outpacing peers.

The euro, which fell to a 16-month low in Asian trade of $1.2666, recovered to $1.2748 in volatile trade to stand up around 0.2 percent for the day.

"Newsflow from the euro zone is not helping, particularly regarding Greece and markets are also on the defensive ahead of key event risks this week so there's not too much reason to be overweight the euro," said Geoffry Yu, cur

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