Europe midday: Shares higher as investors hunt for bargains
European shares maintained gains on Tuesday driven by traders hunting for bargains and overnight gains on Wall Street and Asia.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 1.11% with all major regional bourses higher. Shares were also driven by news that French IT firm Atos had ended takeover talks with US rival DTC Technology.
IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said traders were "eagerly buying into the first real dip since the end of October".
Investors were also eyeing negotiations on Tuesday between US President Joe Biden and Republican senators on a new Covid-19 stimulus Bill.
"This shakeout has been brief but unforgiving, catching sleepy traders off guard and now we are seeing a race to catch up. Hopes of a big fiscal stimulus package continue to drive markets over the medium-term, while tech stocks will be looking forward to Alphabet and Amazon’s earnings tonight, after a fairly quiet start to the week in terms of company earnings," Beauchamp said.
Atos shares rose 1.8% after the firm said it has decided to stop talks on the potential $10bn acquisition. The stock had been up 4% in early trade.
In other corporate news, Fresenius Medical Care slumped 12% after the kidney dialysis firm warned its adjusted net profit would fall this year due to “accelerated Covid-19 related excess mortality of dialysis patients”.
BP shares fell 3.3% after its profit in the last quarter of 2020 missed analyst expectations of $440m, coming in at $115m due to weak energy demand and poor trading results.
Shares in Italian infrastructure group Atlantia rose on news that consortium led by Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti asked for more time to submit “an improved and more compelling” binding bid for a stake in its motorway unit.