MILAN/FRANKFURT: European shares closed nearly flat on Wednesday after their US peers rose on hopes of fresh stimulus, helping dispel early gloom over surging coronavirus cases and uncertainty about the US presidential election.

The continent’s bourses trimmed their morning losses, and the pan-European STOXX 600 ended the day 0.1% lower while euro zone stocks slipped 0.3%.

The STOXX 600 closed out a volatile third quarter nearly flat, and posted a 1.5% decline for September as worries about a second wave of Covid-19 infections hampering Europe’s economic recovery and doubts about a Brexit trade deal came to the fore.

A handful of M&A activity drove big moves, with TP ICAP, the world’s biggest inter-dealer broker, slumping 16.4% to the bottom of STOXX 600 after saying that it was in talks to buy electronic trading network Liquidnet Holdings for $600 million to $700 million.

Dutch specialty chemicals company DSM rose 4% after Germany’s Covestro said it would buy its resins and functional materials unit for about 1.6 billion euros ($1.88 billion). Covestro slid 7%.

Oil major Total gave the biggest boost to the markets, rising 3.1%.

Another energy player Royal Dutch Shell slipped 1.3% after announcing plans to cut over 10% of its workforce.—