Pharmaceuticals, Deutsche Bank nudge European shares higher

LONDON: European equities closed higher on Monday, lifted by gains at Deutsche Bank and pharmaceutical stocks, although weak Chinese data hurt commodity shares.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed up 0.2 percent at 1,438.49 points, while the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also rose 0.2 percent.

Germany's DAX outperformed with a 0.6 percent rise, helped by a 3.7 percent gain at Deutsche Bank as investors welcomed Chief Executive John Cryan's plan to restructure the German bank and cull managers in a move aimed at cutting costs and putting past scandals behind it.

"The fresh start as far as personnel is concerned has been done. Now the bank needs to deliver substance," said Ingo Speich from Union Investment, one of Deutsche Bank's top 20 shareholders.

Gains in pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk and Shire also propped up European stocks, with Novo Nordisk advancing 2.5 percent after a broker upgrade.

Yet even though European equities ended the day in positive territory, they closed below their earlier session highs due to the drop in commodity stocks, while weak results from Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley also impacted the market. Morgan Stanley reported a third-quarter profit that fell short of expectations, weighing on US shares.

Weak data from China, the world's second-biggest economy, also knocked down mining and oil stocks.

"The Morgan Stanley numbers did not help, and the market is just a little disappointed that there were no immediate stimulus measures coming out of China," said Berkeley Futures' associate director Richard Griffiths.

Data showed that China's economic growth dipped below 7 percent for the first time since the global financial crisis, hurt partly by cooling investment.

Some analysts said the Chinese figures would put pressure on Beijing to cut interest rates further and to take other measures to stoke activity.

The signs of a slowdown in China knocked back European stocks in the third quarter, with the DAX some 20 percent below a record high reached in April.