European markets closed higher on Monday; defense stocks led gains
European stocks preliminarily closed in positive territory on Monday, with the region’s defense stocks leading gains after a volatile few trading days.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up around 1% just after the closing bell, having climbed back into the green after Friday’s session closed 0.95% lower as concerns over the U.S. banking sector hit European sentiment.
Most indexes ended the session in positive territory, with Germany’s DAX and Italy’s FTSE MIB leading the way and closing 1.9% and 1.5% higher, respectively. The U.K.’s FTSE index climbed 0.5% and France’s CAC 40 notched 0.4% upwards.
Europe’s defense stocks were among the strong movers, with Thyssenkrupp gaining almost 7.9% by the end of the session following the spinout and IPO of its German warship manufacturer TKMS.
Hensoldt topped the index, having added almost 8%, Renk gained around 6.7%, and Rheinmetall closed 5.9% higher after U.S. President Donald Trump had another tense meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend regarding Ukrainian territory. The Middle East was also in focus after Israel and Hamas accused one another of violating the Gaza ceasefire.
In other stock news, Kering advanced 4.8% amid Sunday news that the Gucci owner was selling its beauty and fragrance business to L’Oreal
for 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion). The sale – aimed at cutting Kering’s debt, which was around 9.5 billion euros as of the end of June — comes ahead of L’Oreal’s earnings report on Tuesday, followed a day later by Kering’s results.
Source : Cnbc.com
