On Monday, global equities remained near record highs as investors evaluated soaring European economic activity and positive US employment data against concerns over the extremely transmissible Delta form of COVID-19.

After statistics showed eurozone firms grew activity at the quickest rate in 15 years in June, the STOXX 600 index of 600 top European companies rose 0.3% recovering from previous losses.

British service businesses' activity also increased in June, but at a slower pace.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.5% ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement at 1600 GMT, which is anticipated to reaffirm the end of COVID-19 restrictive restrictions in England on July 19.

French stocks regained some of their losses after Health Minister Olivier Veran warned that France is on the verge of a fourth wave of the pandemic owing to the Delta strain.

COVID-19 anxiety impacted on Japanese stocks: the Nikkei dropped 0.6% to a two-week low following a rise of infections in Tokyo, just weeks before the Olympics.

According to a study, Japan's services sector activity fell for the 17th consecutive month in June. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan was unchanged.

China's blue-chip stock index rebounded from early losses to close 0.1 percent higher, as Beijing promised to maintain policy support for the nation's internet industry helped alleviate concerns about an assault on ride-hailing giant Didi Global and investigation of other platform companies in the nation.

Last week, the MSCI All Country World index reached a record high of 724.66, and it was 0.1% higher on Monday. With US markets closed for the extended Fourth of July weekend, trading was far from normal.

“Markets are still struggling to find their ground in general,” said James Athey, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“Equities continue to brush off or dismiss anything slightly bad as they resume their joyful and smug dance toward the inevitable reckoning.”

After closing 0.8% higher at a record on Friday, S&P 500 futures pointed to a flat beginning on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.8% establishing a new record

As per figures released on Friday, nonfarm payrolls in the United States grew by a larger-than-expected 850,000 jobs the previous month. However, the rate of unemployment surprisingly climbed to 5.9 % from 5.8 % whereas the closely observed average hourly earnings, a measure of wage inflation, gained 0.3% last month, less than the 0.4% predicted by economists.

“The goldilocks print implies there's no need to quicken the tapering timeframe or the anticipated rate rise profile,” National Australia Bank analyst Tapas Strickland said in a client note.

“Overall, payrolls are still 6.8 million below pre-pandemic February 2020 levels, and the Fed is still requiring substantial progress.” As a result, there is nothing about this report to cause the Fed to become hawkish.”

The minutes of the Federal Open Markets Committee meeting last month, when policymakers startled markets by indicating two rate rises before the end of 2023, will be scrutinized.

Fed officials' comments so far have been more balanced, notably from Chair Jerome Powell, as investors wait for Wednesday's announcement for additional signals on the timing of policy tightening.

Eurozone government bond rates increased slightly but experts anticipate the recent downward trend to continue following the release of US payrolls statistics.

The yield on Germany's 10-year Bund increased by one basis point to -0.222%.

The dollar fell against a basket of major currencies on Monday, after facing a stumbling block after last week's mixed bag of US labor statistics allayed investor concerns about a quicker end to monetary stimulus.

Whereas the headline June job creation statistic above expectations, unemployment rose slightly and workforce participation rate remained unchanged, indicating encouraging progress but room for the Federal Reserve to wait before reducing asset purchases or raising interest rates.

Bonds gained, stocks increased, and the dollar fell in the aftermath of the report, falling most versus the risk-sensitive Australian and New Zealand currencies, and the rate-sensitive yen.

While the dollar tried to recover in Asian and early European trade, it had dropped back toward its lowest levels since Wednesday by lunchtime in London.

It increased around 0.2% versus the New Zealand dollar, which was trading at $0.7022, was 0.05% down at 110.94 yen, and was last steady at $1.1863 per euro.

Markets in the US were closed on Monday in celebration of the Fourth of July holiday.