BRUSSELS, Jan 22 — European shares opened higher today, catching the tailwind from a bounce on Wall Street that drove the benchmark S&P 500 to a record peak in the previous session, while investors await the European Central Bank’s policy decision due this week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.7 per cent, as of 0810 GMT, following a 1.5 per cent decline last week.

The S&P 500 index scaled a record high on Friday, the first in two years, fuelled by a rally in US chipmakers and heavyweight technology stocks.

Technology stocks in the euro zone climbed 1.2 per cent today.

Adding to the sector’s gains, ASML Holdings gained 2.2 per cent after Bernstein upgraded the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker’s rating to "outperform” from "market-perform”.

Investor attention has sharpened on the ECB’s monetary policy decision, due on Jan. 25, to ascertain the timing of interest rate cuts from the central bank.

Among other movers, shares of Kindred jumped 16.8 per cent after French gaming company La Francaise des Jeux launched a takeover offer for its European online peer in a US$.28 billion deal. La Francaise’s shares climbed nearly 5 per cent. — Reuters