Stock markets diverged Monday, with Paris dropping as France plunged further into political crisis after the prime minister’s resignation, while Tokyo surged on new leadership of its ruling party.

Gold pushed on with its rise close to $4,000 an ounce as the US government shutdown and expected interest cuts from the Federal Reserve boosted the precious metal's attractiveness.

The euro fell against main rivals and French borrowing costs spiked as Sebastien Lecornu resigned after less than a month in office and shortly after unveiling a largely unchanged cabinet.

France's "fractured parliament is making it nearly impossible to pass a budget that reduces the fiscal deficit", said Jack Allen-Reynolds, deputy chief eurozone economist at Capital Economics.

"With government borrowing running a

See Full Page