Most of the investors are cautious of making any bold moves ahead of the key austerity vote that is going to be made by the Greek parliament this week, resulting which the European stocks kept on searching their directions on Monday as well.

The reports showed that the Stoxx Europe 600 index gained by 0.1% at 264.26 recently, London's FTSE 100 was also up by 0.3% at 5714.35, Frankfurt's DAX was flat at 7124.94 and Paris's CAC-40 was again 0.1% higher at
3789.37.

Also it was showcased in the reports that the U. S. stock-index futures were in the black as the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures for September delivery were up by 0.2% at 11906 whereas the September 500 contract of Standard & Poor's was also up by 0.2% at 1267.

"This week is crunch time for [Greek Prime Minister George] Papandreou, his austerity measures and maybe the markets too," said Mike Lenhoff, Chief Strategist at Brewin Dolphin. "Parliamentary approval for the austerity package should help equities respond positively to their oversold condition. But should things fail to go Mr. Papandreou's way, then the banks could lead the way into a nasty tailspin."

Voting by Greek lawmakers will be done on Wednesday on a five-year fiscal plan, following which re-voting will be done on Thursday for implementing the law to spell out the austerity measures in more detail.