Tourists take pictures under the rain in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index opened 0.37% higher, with mining, technology and household goods the best performing sectors and only telecoms and utilities in negative territory.

In a rare briefing from Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, the PBOC said it will cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks by 50 basis points, although it did not provide a specific timeline. It also announced it would cut the seven-day reverse repurchase rate from 1.7% to 1.5%, among other measures.

European stocks closed higher Monday despite German and French preliminary composite PMI data, a measure of business activity in the manufacturing and services sector, showing declines in September in both of Europe's largest economies, as well as the wider euro zone area.

Scholz's comments came shortly after Italy's UniCredit announced it had increased its stake in the German lender to around 21% and submitted a request to boost the holding to up to 29.9%, signaling a takeover bid might be on the cards.

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