Dealmaking, Trump's health update boost European stocks

UK's Weir Group Plc rose 17.7% to the top of STOXX 600 as it had agreed to sell its oil and gas division to U.S. heavy equipment maker Caterpillar for $405 million.

A spate of dealmaking activity lifted European stocks in early trade on Monday along with an upbeat global mood on positive updates of U.S. President Donald Trump's health.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7% by 0717 GMT, adding to a near-2% gain last week. Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total gained nearly 2%, with crude prices climbing after an easing of the worst fears about Trump's health condition and an expanding workers' strike in Norway, Western Europe's largest oil producer.

Spanish bank Unicaja gained 6.0% after a source told Reuters that it and Liberbank were holding informal talks about a potential tie-up to create the country's fifth-biggest lender. German fertiliser group K+S jumped 13.5% after Bloomberg reported it was in advanced talks to sell its Morton Salt unit to Kissner Group for about $3 billion.

Dufry surged 12.2% after it revealed that China's Alibaba planned to acquire a stake of up to 9.99% in the Swiss duty free group. UK's Weir Group Plc rose 17.7% to the top of STOXX 600 as it had agreed to sell its oil and gas division to U.S. heavy equipment maker Caterpillar for $405 million.

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