The prospect of further stimulus measures from the European Central Bank this week helped equity bulls brush aside steep falls for Chinese stocks, renewed weakness for oil and copper prices and uncertainties about the forthcoming Greek election.

Indeed, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 equity index rose 0.2 per cent to a seven-year closing high of 1409.92, although that was well down from the day’s high of 1,418.11. The Xetra Dax in Frankfurt climbed 0.7 per cent to a record peak of 10,242. But activity was relatively light given the closure of US markets for Martin Luther King Day.

There was a near unanimous view in the markets that the ECB would announce a programme of sovereign quantitative easing on Thursday, aimed at bolstering the eurozone’s economy and reversing a slide into deflation. But plenty of questions remained over the potential size of any programme.