European shares are up on morning trade and Spain's Ipex continues to gain

European shares rose on Thursday, with sentiment rising as US stock indexes continued to hit new record highs, led by travel and entertainment, while Spain's Ipex index continued its gains for the second session in a row after the regional government in Catalonia delayed its official announcement of independence from Spain.

The Dow Jones Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.1% by 09:55 GMT, the index ended yesterday's session unchanged, unchanged for the second consecutive session.

The travel and entertainment sector gained the most gains from all sectors on the Stoxx Europe 600 index during morning trade, with Lufthansa up 3% after the German airline announced it would sign an agreement Thursday to buy parts of the bankrupt Irish carrier Air Berlin.

The Spanish IPEX 35 index rose 0.2 percent, extending gains for a second consecutive session, after rising 1.3 percent on Wednesday led by banks and financial firms, as relative fears over Catalonia's independence crisis eased.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has given the regional government in Catalonia eight days to officially relinquish its independence. If not, Rajoy will suspend the political independence of the province and the province will be governed by the central government in Madrid.

Meanwhile, ECB Governor Mario Draghi and a number of Bank members are due to speak at the IMF's annual meeting in Washington on the future of monetary policy in the euro area.

The S & P 500 futures contract fell 0.1%, and the index ended yesterday's session by 0.2%, hitting a new record high of 2,555.24 points, upbeat for the third quarter of 2017.
Euro Stoke 50 rose 0.1%. In France, the CAC 40 index fell less than 0.1%. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2%. In Germany, the DAX added 0.1%.