During the New Year weekend, brokers at all stock markets in the eurozone had re-calculated every single share price from old national currencies into euros. Traders said the transition to the euro was smooth but tentative. The volume of shares traded was low, a reflection of both caution and the absence of investors because of school holidays in many countries on the continent.

At 0910 GMT, Germany's floor-traded Dax index was up 133 points or 2.7%, at 5,135. Trade on the leading continental bourse began at 0830 local time (0730 GMT) as normal without any technical problems.

In the opening minutes of trade, Paris' Cac 40 index jumped 67 points or 1.67% to 4010 by 0905 GMT. In Milan, the MIB30 blue-chip index was up 2% while Zurich's SMI was up 3.16% or 136 points at 4,296.

Traders cautious

One trader said: "The open came off very smoothly. The market is still a little nervous and that is reflected in the low volume of trades."

Another said: "Investors will remain in a cautious wait-and-see position for the next one or two days, they want to see what the market is doing."

Expected gains in the value of the euro against the US dollar in initial currency trade did not materialise and so didn't hurt Germany's export-sensitive share market.

The euro was gained against last week's fixing towards the US dollar, but was down slightly at $1.1855 in morning trade compared to the strong overnight gains in Asia.

London link-up

This session also marks the start of links between the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges with traders in each centres now able to buy and sell stocks on the electronic trading platforms of the other.