Europe's main stock markets held broadly steady on Monday after strong gains for Chinese indices, as trading entered a traditionally weak month for Wall Street.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed with a gain of 2.2 percent, fuelled by the share price of Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba soaring almost 20 percent on bumper results which included a surge in AI revenue.

Chinese equities won support also from official data showing that China's factory output ticked up in August, analysts said.

The Purchasing Managers' Index -- a key measure of industrial output -- was 49.4, up slightly from 49.3 in July.

However, it was also a fifth straight month of contraction, as only a figure above 50 indicates growth.

In Europe, the London edged higher Frankfurt stock markets gained 0.6 percent.

Paris

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