A rally in China’s stock markets to seven-year highs on Monday kept an index of Asian shares near its highest level since September, as weak Chinese trade data intensified expectations for more economic stimulus measures from Beijing. Bulls are expected to prevail in early European trading as well, with financial spreadbetters predicting Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE would open 2 to 3 points higher, or up 0.04 percent; Germany’s DAX .GDAXI to open 19 to 20 points higher, or 0.16 percent up; and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI to open 5 points higher, or 0.1 percent higher. “Stock markets have shown us time and again that you don’t need a strong economy to have rampant gains. In fact, an economy that is showing fragility has tended to outperform, notably when the central bank is pushing a more accommodative stance,” Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, wrote in […]