European
stocks advanced as companies from AstraZeneca Plc to Bayer AG rose amid
an increase in mergers-and-acquisitions activity, offsetting new U.S.
sanctions against Russian individuals and companies.
AstraZeneca
jumped 14 percent to a record after Pfizer Inc. confirmed its interest
in taking over the U.K. drugmaker for almost $99 billion. Bayer climbed
3.3 percent after it posted first-quarter profit that beat estimates and
as it was said to explore a sale of its plastics unit. BP Plc, which
holds a stake in OAO Rosneft, fell 1 percent as the Russian company��s
chief executive officer came under U.S. sanctions. Siemens AG slipped
2.5 percent after it was said to have made an offer for Alstom SA to
beat a bid from General Electric Co.
The
Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.2 percent to 334.13 at the close. The
benchmark gauge earlier erased an increase of as much as 0.6 percent
after the U.S. Treasury announced Russian sanctions. The Stoxx 600 rose
0.3 percent last week amid increased deals activity among drug
companies.
National
benchmark indexes advanced in 12 of the 18 western-European markets
today. France��s CAC 40 gained 0.4 percent and Germany��s DAX rose 0.5
percent. The U.K.��s FTSE 100 increased 0.2 percent.
Source : Bloomberg
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