European shares advance for fifth time in six sessions

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European shares climbed on Monday, up for the fifth time in six sessions, with gains in the airline sector and a broker upgrade for automaker Renault helping the advance.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index /quotes/comstock/22c!sxxp (ST:SXXP 241.50, +0.48, +0.20%) rose 0.6% to 242.43, extending gains from the previous week when the index rose 1.5%.

Last week's action was dominated by hopes for a rescue plan for Greece, which culminated in a statement of support from European leaders. The topic is set to be a top item at a meeting of European finance ministers in the early part of this week.

"E.U. political support is not meaningless, but markets may want to be convinced that Greece is delivering on its consolidation and reform targets first," said strategists at Deutsche Bank.

Disgruntled German voters, the European Commission's new point man on economic and monetary affairs and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet put added pressure on Greece to further tighten its belt Monday and the euro /quotes/comstock/21o!x:seurusd (CUR_EURUSD 1.36, -.00, -0.18%) declined 0.6% to $1.3603 against the dollar. Read more on Greece.

Within regional equity markets, the U.K. FTSE 100 index /quotes/comstock/23i!i:ukx (UK:UKX 5,160, +17.20, +0.33%) rose 0.5% to 5,170.55, the German DAX index /quotes/comstock/30p!dax (DX:DAX 5,505, +3.85, +0.07%) climbed 0.5% to 5,530.21 and the French CAC-40 index /quotes/comstock/30t!i:px1 (FR:PX1 3,601, +1.59, +0.04%) rose 0.7% to 3,623.47.

Asian shares ended mostly lower. The U.S. equity market is closed Monday for a holiday.