European shares advanced on Monday, with banks recouping some losses clocked last week and as Denmark’s Topdanmark jumped on the news of insurer Sampo’s all-share buyout offer of its rival.
As of 0709 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.4%, coming off its worst weekly percentage fall so far this year.
The technology sub-index led sectoral gains with a 1.2% jump, while European banks advanced more than 1%.
European shares came under pressure last week when President Emmanuel Macron called for a snap election following a trouncing of his ruling centrist party by Marine Le Pen’s eurosceptic National Rally in the European Parliament elections.
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France’s CAC 40 gained 0.6% early on after falling more than 6% last week.
Shares of Topdanmark jumped 21% after Finnish insurer Sampo agreed to buy its Danish rival in a deal that values the company at 33 billion crowns ($4.73 billion), the two companies said. Sampo slumped nearly 3%.
Shares of ING, the largest Dutch lender by assets, gained 2.1% after the bank forecast total income growth of between 4% and 5% per year during 2024-2027.
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