Europe’s STOXX 600 opened lower at the start of a holiday-shortened week, after clocking its steepest weekly drop since early September, but a spike in Novo Nordisk limited the downside on the main stock index.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.2% as of 0810 GMT amid a light event calendar, with trading volumes expected to be low ahead of the Christmas break.
Travel and leisure and media were the worst-hit sectors, down 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively. Novo Nordisk jumped 6.3%, aiding a near 1% rise in the healthcare sub-index.
This comes after the drugmaker’s disappointing results for experimental obesity drug CagriSema wiped out as much as $125 billion off its market value on Friday.
European stocks tumble after Fed’s hawkish signal
Separately, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s bleeding disorder drug Alhemo.
Volkswagen was down 0.4%, erasing early gains that came on the back of the automaker striking a deal with unions after months of talks.
Direct Line rose 3% on British insurer Aviva’s plans to buy the company in a 3.7 billion pound ($4.65 billion) cash-and-stock deal.
Meanwhile, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the euro zone was getting “very close” to reaching the medium-term inflation goal of 2%, according to a Financial Times interview.
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