European markets bounced back on Monday, recovering from a sharp fall over the previous week as Swiss chemical company Syngenta jumped after a bid for it by ChemChina was cleared by a US watchdog.
Syngenta was up 11.9 per cent, the top STOXX Europe 600 riser after US regulator CFIUS cleared ChemChina’s $43-billion takeover, removing significant uncertainty over whether the acquisition of the world’s largest pesticides maker will be completed.
Analysts at BAADER Helvea said that the market had questioned whether the deal would be approved, but other regulatory hurdles posed less of a risk.
The stock contributed 35 points to Switzerland’s SMI index, and accounted for around half of its gains. The index was up 0.9 per cent.
The STOXX 600 rose 0.8 per cent, stabilising after posting its biggest weekly drop since June on Friday. It fell away after it hit its highest level since Britain voted to leave the European Union.
“The market got very expensive, and it had rallied in very thin volume,” said Zeg Choudhry, managing director at LONTRAD.
“But underneath, the market is being supported by easy money and it's not feeling like there will be a more substantial correction.”
Shares of Teleperformance, an investor favourite following the Brexit vote, rose 8.6 percent, hitting a record high after agreeing to buy LanguageLine Solutions.
Irish clean energy company Kingspan rose 5.2 per cent after profit and revenue beat expectations. The company also said it had seen no impact on trading so far from June's Brexit vote.
Among fallers, Getinge dropped 3.4 per cent after the firing of CEO Alex Myers after just 17 months.
“The disagreement appears to revolve around the execution of the restructuring rather than the plan itself,” analysts at Jefferies said in a note.
“However, the departure of Mr. Myers raises significant questions about the future direction and execution of this programme.”
Basic resources fell 1.2 per cent, the only sector in negative territory, weighed down by a drop in mining stocks.
Oil & Gas shares also underperformed, up 0.1 per cent as dollar-denominated commodity prices came under pressure from a rise in the greenback. Chinese export data fuelled concerns over market oversupply.