Comments
European shares edged lower in early trading on Friday, with weaker oil prices hurting energy stocks and Italian lenders dragging down European banking index.
The STOXX Europe 600 index was down 0.2 per cent by 0826 GMT, but still remained on track for a third straight week of gains. Britain’s FTSE 100, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC were down 0.1 to 0.3 per cent.
The European oil and gas index fell 0.6 per cent, the top sectoral decliner, after oil prices fell more than 1 per cent on a strong dollar, rising Saudi supplies to Asian clients and a fall in Chinese imports.
Italian banks dropped 0.8 per cent on lingering concerns ahead of a referendum vote on December 4 that could topple Matteo Renzi’s reformist government. The European banking index was down 0.6 per cent.
However, drugmakers capped losses, with the European healthcare index up 0.6 per cent.
The sector was helped by a sharp rally in Swiss biotechnology firm Actelion on a report of a takeover approach by Johnson & Johnson underpinning the market.
Actelion shares rose nearly 10 per cent, the top gainer inthe STOXX 600 index and set for their biggest one-day gain since mid-2014, after a Bloomberg report, citing people familiar with the matter, further said Actelion was working with an adviser to explore options.
Actelion declined to comment, while J&J did not respond to a request for comment.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.