M&A frenzy, earnings power European stocks to new highs

August 2, 2021

(Reuters) – European stocks scaled fresh peaks on Monday following a clutch of deals and strong results from Europe’s biggest bank HSBC, while sentiment was also supported by a rebound in Asian stocks.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.8% to hit an all-time high of 465 points in early trading.

British aero-engineer Meggitt soared 59.7% to record a life high after U.S. industrial firm Parker-Hannifin said it would buy UK rival in a deal that values it at 6.3 billion pounds ($8.76 billion).

UK’s midcap index jumped 1.5%, while the blue-chip index added 1.0%. [.L]

Asia-focussed lender HSBC gained 1.4% after it beat forecasts for first-half pretax profit and reinstated dividend payments.

French insurer Axa was up 3.6% after it posted a 180% surge in first-half net income, while bigger rival Allianz fell 2.6% after U.S. regulators started a probe relating to Allianz Global Investors’ Structured Alpha Funds.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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