European shares gained on Monday, with a key index hitting its highest level since April, led by banks after global regulators eased the burden of the Basel III rules by giving banks a transition period to comply.

The STOXX Europe 600 banking index gained 1.8 per cent, with Societe Generale, Barclays and BNP Paribas up 2.1 to 4 per cent.

Global regulators agreed on Sunday to force banks to more than triple the amount of top-quality capital they must hold in reserve but gave the lenders transition periods, extending in some cases to January 2019 or later, to comply with the rules.

By 0709 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was 0.8 per cent higher at 1,089.22 points - its highest level since late April.

'Today is going to be quite positive, with the Basel III news that this is not going to be all negative for banks,' said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management. 'Then there is the Chinese factory data which is also seen as a positive.'

Chinese factories ramped up production in August and money growth easily topped expectations, showing that the economy remained buoyant despite government efforts to clamp down on bank lending and property speculation.-Reuters