Europe open: Stocks rise as ARM surges on deal news

European stocks rose in early trade, with sentiment underpinned by M&A activity as investors digested news of a failed military coup in Turkey.

At 0900 BST, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index, Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were all up 0.8%.

At the same time, oil prices were fairly steady as market participants shrugged of the events in Turkey. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.1% to $45.89 a barrel while Brent crude was up 0.1% at $47.65.

Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at stockbroker Interactive Investor, said: “Global markets have largely shrugged off the turmoil in Turkey as equity markets start the week higher.

“However, the sustained negative news on Turkey is taking its toll on certain travel companies, including Thomas Cook and TUI, which are down sharply on fears that the political and security risks could prove more traumatic for Turkish tourism as holiday makers rethink their plans.”

In Turkey, stocks were in the red, with the BIST 100 index more than 2% lower, although the lira was bouncing back.

Six thousand people have been arrested following Friday’s attempted military coup and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said parliament will consider introducing the death penalty for those thought to have committed traitorous acts against the state.

Deal news helped to lift the mood on Monday as ARM Holdings surged after the chip designer agreed a £23.4bn takeover offer by Japan's Softbank, in what could be the first major move sparked by the post-Brexit collapse in the value of the pound. Peers got a boost, with Dialog Semiconductor and Imagination Technologies both sharply higher.

AstraZeneca nudged higher after announcing that its Phase III AURA3 trial has met its primary endpoint, demonstrating superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared to standard platinum-based doublet chemotherapy.

SBM Offshore surged after the Dutch offshore engineer reached a deal with Brazilian authorities in a corruption probe.

Glencore was under the cosh after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the stock to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’.