Mining and oil stocks aided a recovery in European markets on Monday as commodities rose while uncertainty over monetary policy eased.
Dublin
Among leading stocks airline Ryanair added 1.39 per cent to €16.095. Multinational packaging specialist Smurfit Kappa gained 1 per cent to €49.47.
Insurance and building materials manufacturer Kingspan shed 2.23 per cent, giving back some of the gains made on the back of strong interim results on Friday.
Lenders enjoyed mixed fortunes. AIB rose 1.64 per cent to €2.48, while Bank of Ireland dipped 0.35 per cent to €5.108. Permanent TSB shed 2.21 per cent to close at €1.33.
Housebuilder Cairn Homes advanced 2.71 per cent to €1.138. Rival Glenveagh Properties, which is due to report half-yearly results this week, inched 0.4 per cent up to €1.01.
Dairy and food processor Glanbia rose 1.58 per cent to €14.83. In the same industry, Kerry Group slipped 0.72 per cent to €124.90.
London
Supermarket Sainsbury's jumped 15.4 per cent to 340 pence sterling, making it the best performer on Europe's Stoxx 600, following a report that private-equity firms were circling the company with a view of possibly launching bids of more than £7 billion sterling (€8.2 billion). Rival Tesco added 2.03 per cent to close at 215.5p.
Analysts said the blue-chip FTSE 100 had a “positive day” on the back of the mergers and acquisitions as miners and resource firms, a big part of the index, also had a strong session.
Glencore added 2.55 per cent to 317.5p on the back of positive moves in commodity prices.
Royal Dutch Shell advanced 2.14 per cent to 1,422.2p, while BP gained 2.48 per cent to 295p.
Irish-based Grafton Group, owner of the Woodies DIY chain, which is due to report interim results this week, fell 2.83 per cent to 1,304p.
Europe
Germany's Biontech surged 7.6 per cent to €323.70 after the United States Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the Pfizer/Biontech Covid-19 vaccine.
Luxury stocks including LVMH, Kering and Moncler clawed back some of last week's losses after being sold off on China's wealth-redistribution plans, which reverberated through European markets last week.
Switzerland-based Cembra Money Bank plunged 30.9 per cent to 66.90 Swiss francs, sending it to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 after it terminated its credit-card partnership with Swiss retailer Migros.
French lottery operator La Francaise des Jeux fell 1.7 per cent to €42.31 after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to 'sell'.
Airline Air France KLM climbed 2.51 per cent to €3.93. Germany's Lufthansa edged up 0.7 per cent to €8.61.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.7 per cent higher after losing nearly 1.5 per cent last week. Oil and mining were the best-performing sectors, rising about 2.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
Data in Europe suggested that business activity remained strong in August, albeit at a slightly slower growth pace than the two-decade peak seen in July.
US
Energy and technology stocks powered the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record highs on Monday as investors returned to riskier assets after last week’s sell-off and Pfizer-Biontech’s Covid-19 vaccine got full US approval.
Pfizer shares were up 2.5 per cent following the news. Meanwhile, shares of Trillium Therapeutics nearly tripled after Pfizer agreed to buy the cancer drug developer in a $2.26 billion deal.
General Motors Co fell 1.5 per cent after the largest US automaker said it would take a $1 billion hit to expand the recall of its Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles due to the risk of fires from the high-voltage battery pack.
Energy shares jumped 3.8 per cent, having lost 7.3 per cent in the previous week on fears that new Covid-19 curbs would hit fuel demand. Apple, Facebook, Amazon. com, Google owner Alphabet, Nvidia and Tesla gained between 1.1 per cent and 4.6 per cent. – Additional reporting: Reuters
