European shares ended decidedly higher on Monday as an unexpected rise in German business morale underscored the resilience of the region’s largest economy, while wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa jumped on a takeover offer.
After rising as much as 1.3% earlier in the day, the pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 1.3% higher. German shares rose 1.4%.
Commodity-linked stocks gained about 2% on the back of higher oil and base metal prices, while banks rose 2.3%.
Siemens Gamesa jumped 6.2% after Siemens Energy launched a 4.05 billion-euro ($4.3 billion) bid for minority holdings in struggling wind turbine unit.
Siemens Energy’s largest shareholder - Siemens AG - rose 1.4%.
“The very fact there’s still deal making going on is helping lift sentiment … because it shows that there is still appetite for opportunity,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Landsdown.
Markets have had a volatile few weeks, with the STOXX 600 posting another weekly loss on Friday as investors grappled with COVID-19 updates from China, signs of global recession from companies and economic indicators.
A survey from the Ifo institute showed that German business morale unexpectedly rose in May, offering hope that Europe’s largest economy was proving resilient in the face of high inflation, supply-chain problems and the war in Ukraine.
“The Ifo survey for May suggests that activity in Germany may be holding up a little better than we had feared,” said Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at Capital Economics.
“With the Ukraine war and energy price shock hitting Germany harder than most other advanced economies and the threat of higher policy rates looming, Germany will have a tough year regardless of whether it experiences a technical recession.”
French policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said European Central Bank rate hikes in July and September are essentially a done deal, just hours after ECB chief Christine Lagarde made the case for the moves.
Separately, COVID-19 cases rose in Beijing but the gradual easing of curbs in Shanghai and hopes of more central bank stimulus kept up bets of a recovery.
U.S. President Joe Biden also weighed reducing tariffs on Chinese goods imposed during the Trump administration.
Deutsche Euroshop soared 40.1% after a consortium of bidders offered 1.4 billion euros ($1.48 billion) to acquire the German shopping centre investor.
British home improvement retailer Kingfisher firmed 2.2% on reporting quarterly sales significantly ahead of its pre-pandemic performance.
Comments
Comments are closed.