UPDATE 2-Telecoms M&A lifts Europe, FTSE rallies despite record GDP slump

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
UPDATE 2-Telecoms M&A lifts Europe, FTSE rallies despite record GDP slump
Credit: © Reuters.

(For a live blog on European stocks, type LIVE/ in an Eikon news window)

* STOXX 600 marks fourth consecutive day of gains

* Swiss telecom co Sunrise hits record high on buyout offer

* Vaccine hopes, recovery optimism support wider sentiment

* FTSE 100 rallied 2% as investors shrug off 20% Q2 GDP drop (Updates to market close)

By Sruthi Shankar

Aug 12 (Reuters) - European stocks rallied on Wednesday as a billion-dollar takeover offer for Swiss firm Sunrise Communications boosted the telecom sector and investors looked past a collapse in Britain's quarterly economic output to bet on a stimulus-driven recovery.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX closed 1.1% higher, marking its fourth consecutive day of gains and settled near a three-week high. Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 .SPX headed for a record high boosted by technology stocks. .N

Sunrise Communications SRCG.S surged 26.8% to a record high after U.S. firm Liberty Global LBTYA.O launched a takeover offer for the company in a deal valued at 6.8 billion Swiss francs ($7.40 billion). in German telecoms investor Freenet FNTGn.DE , Sunrise's largest shareholder, jumped 16.8%, while the broader sector .SXKP gained 1.7% to lead sectoral gains.

"Consolidation between operators would be positive for the industry as it would reduce competitive pressure on prices and improve the return on capital," Domenico Ghilotti, an analyst at Equita wrote in a note.

Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 .FTSE jumped 2% as investors focused on signs of a recovery in economic output in June, shrugging off a record 20.4% plunge in the second quarter, the largest contraction reported by any major economy. output grew by 8.7% from May, just above economists' average expectation in a Reuters poll for an 8% rise.

"It's been widely expected that the UK will be in a recession. But the fact that May number was upgraded and the June number was better than expectations, is offering a little bit of encouragement," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"Markets are more interested in debating the pace of the recovery."

Stock markets globally have rallied this week on improving data from China and Europe, signs of progress in developing a COVID-19 vaccine and expectations of fresh U.S. stimulus.

But U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats and the Trump administration remained far apart regarding any agreement over further economic aid. other individual movers, Dutch bank ABN Amro ABNd.AS jumped 8.1% after it said its corporate bank will retreat to northwest Europe, exiting the United States, Asia, Australia and Brazil as it joins a growing list of banks restructuring their commodities business to cut risk. food-ordering firm Just Eat Takeaway.com NV TKWY.AS JETJ.L rose 3.2% after reporting higher revenue and underlying profit for the first half of 2020. online fashion retailer ASOS ASOS.L jumped 13.3% as it forecast full-year sales and profit significantly ahead of market expectations.

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search