European stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest weekly drop in five months, as Italy elected a president and the Group of 20 refrained from opposing the Bank of Japan’s stimulus policies.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) advanced 0.2 percent to 285.68 at the close of trading. The benchmark gauge pared an earlier gain of as much as 0.9 percent as U.S. home sales unexpectedly fell. The measure retreated 2.5 percent last week as economic data from the U.S. to China missed forecasts. It has still risen 2.2 percent this year.

National benchmark indexes climbed in 11 of the 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 6,280.62 -5.97 -0.09% CAC 40 3,652.13 +0.17 0.00% DAX 7,478.11 +18.15 +0.24%

Giorgio Napolitano was elected to a second term as Italy’s president after accepting a last-minute appeal from party leaders to run again. The 87-year-old incumbent won the backing of parties led by former premier Silvio Berlusconi, caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti and outgoing Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani. His re-election came after the country’s divided Parliament failed to agree on a candidate in the first five rounds of voting, an impasse that led Bersani to resign. Italy has yet to form a new government eight weeks after inconclusive elections.

In the U.S., purchases of previously owned houses fell 0.6 percent to a 4.92 million annual rate last month, figures from the National Association of Realtors showed. The median forecast of economists projected sales would increase to a 5 million rate.

UniCredit, Italy’s largest lender, gained 2.7 percent to 3.73 euros. Banco Popolare SC, the fourth-biggest bank by assets, rose 4.5 percent to 1.10 euros. Mediobanca SpA, the nation’s largest publicly traded investment bank, added 2 percent to 4.67 euros.

Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G), Italy’s biggest insurer, added 5.2 percent to 13.48 euros, the highest price since Feb. 1. The stock was upgraded to overweight, a rating similar to buy, from equal weight at Barclays Plc, which said the company may raise its dividend this year.

Delhaize soared 11 percent to 47.16 euros, the highest since November 2011. First-quarter operating profit before one- time items rose 13 percent to 214 million euros ($279 million), the Brussels-based company said. Analysts had projected a decline to 175 million euros, according to the average of 17 estimates published on its website. Comparable sales in the U.S. gained 1.9 percent, the most in six quarters.

SMA Solar Technology AG, Germany’s biggest solar-energy company by market value, surged 4.7 percent to 18.32 euros after ABB Ltd. (ABBN) agreed to buy U.S. peer Power-One Inc. for about $1 billion. Meyer Burger Technology AG, which supplies machinery to solar-panel makers, advanced 3.7 percent to 7.37 Swiss francs.

Randgold Resources Ltd., a miner of the precious metal in Africa, jumped 4.4 percent to 4,870 pence as gold prices increased for a fifth day.

U.S. stock futures rose as the Group of 20 finance ministers failed to oppose Japan’s monetary policies at a meeting.

Global Stocks:

Nikkei  13,568.37 +251.89 +1.89%

Hang Seng 22,044.37 +30.80 +0.14%

Shanghai Composite 2,242.17 -2.47 -0.11%

FTSE  6,307.66 +21.07 +0.34%

CAC  3,659.97 +8.01 +0.22%

DAX 7,499.67 +39.71 +0.53%

Crude oil $88.87 +0.98%

Gold $1427.80 +2.31%

Upgrades:

Apple (AAPL) upgraded to Buy from Hold at BGC Partners  

Apple (AAPL) upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Avondale

Downgrades:

McDonald's (MCD) downgraded from Buy to Outperform at Credit Agricole

General Electric (GE) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan

Verizon (VZ) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie

Other:

European stocks rose, rebounding from the biggest weekly drop in five months, as Italy elected a president and the Group of 20 refrained from opposing the Bank of Japan’s stimulus policies.

Italian bonds advanced, pushing the yield on the two-year notes to as little as 1.208 percent, the lowest since began compiling the data in 1993.

Giorgio Napolitano was elected to a second term as Italy’s president after accepting a last-minute appeal from party leaders to run again. The 87-year-old incumbent won the backing of parties led by former premier Silvio Berlusconi, caretaker Prime Minister Mario Monti and outgoing Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani.

BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda emerged from the G-20 meeting saying he was emboldened to press ahead with the campaign to defeat deflation. The central bank meets this week after pledging April 4 to double the monetary base in two years.

Italy’s FTSE MIB Index advanced 2.3 percent as Banco Popolare, the nation’s fourth-biggest bank by assets, rose 4.6 percent to 1.10 euros. Mediobanca SpA, Italy’s largest publicly traded investment bank, added 3.3 percent to 4.73 euros while UniCredit SpA, Italy’s biggest lender, gained 4.6 percent to 3.79 euros.

Assicurazioni Generali SpA, Italy’s biggest insurer, added 5.2 percent to 13.48 euros. The stock was raised to overweight, a rating similar to buy, from equal weight at Barclays Plc, which said the company may raise its dividend this year.

Delhaize soared 11 percent to 47.33 euros, the biggest jump since March 2009. First-quarter operating profit before one-time items rose 13 percent to 214 million euros ($279 million), the Brussels-based company said. Analysts had projected a decline to 175 million euros, according to the average of 17 estimates published on the company’s website. Comparable sales in the U.S. advanced 1.9 percent, the most in six quarters, and rose 2.4 percent in Belgium, corrected for a calendar impact.

FTSE 100 6,334.38 +47.79 +0.76%

CAC 40 3,669.33 +17.37 +0.48%

DAX 7,512.52 +52.56 +0.70%

Asian stocks rose for a second day, led by Japanese exporters as the yen slid to a four-year low against the dollar after the Bank of Japan’s stimulus policies were unopposed at a Group of 20 meeting.

Nikkei 225 13,568.37 +251.89 +1.89%

Hang Seng 22,084.58 +71.01 +0.32%

S&P/ASX 200 4,966.6 +34.69 +0.70%

Shanghai Composite 2,242.17 -2.47 -0.11%

Nissan Motor Co., a Japanese carmaker that gets 79 percent of sales overseas, climbed 2.6 percent.

China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd., the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier, jumped 3.9 percent after increasing its third-generation mobile subscribers.