By Carla Mozee and Victor Reklaitis, MarketWatch
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European markets inched higher Monday, with Henderson Group PLC leading the way up and energy stocks among those advancing.
The Stoxx Europe 600 /zigman2/quotes/210599654/delayed XX:SXXP -0.78% rose 0.1% to finish at 343.23, as trading got under way for the fourth quarter.
Topping the index was Henderson Group PLC , whose shares soared 17% after the investment management firm said it planned on merging with Janus Capital Group Inc. . The move would give the combined group a market capitalization of $6 billion.
The Stoxx 600 has gained for five-straight trading days. The regional index on Friday closed up 0.1%, as Deutsche Bank AG led a turnaround among equities, spurred by talk that the lender may be able to pay a lower-than-anticipated fine to U.S. regulators related to selling of mortgage securities.
A deal hasn’t emerged as of Monday. Talks between Deutsche Bank and the Justice Department have been moving forward, but a proposal for a deal has yet to reach the top levels at the bank nor at the Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Deutsche Bank /zigman2/quotes/205584254/delayed DE:DBK +3.96% /zigman2/quotes/203042512/composite DB +3.00% shares weren’t trading in Frankfurt /zigman2/quotes/210597999/delayed DX:DAX -0.97% as the market there was closed Monday for a German holiday.
Read: Who’s afraid of the big, bad Deutsche Bank?
Banks on the move: But some bank shares on Monday lost ground, weighing on the Stoxx 600.
Shares of UBI Banca dropped 1.3% in Milan. That came after the Italian lender’s plan to buy three other banks was rejected by the European Central Bank, according to weekend media reports.
Meanwhile, shares of ING Groep NV /zigman2/quotes/203351007/delayed NL:INGA +1.60% slipped 1% after the Dutch lender said it is cutting about 7,000 jobs in the next couple of years in Belgium and in the Netherlands in an effort to save €900 million ($1.01 billion) a year by 2021.
Oil bump: Energy-related stocks gained as crude-oil prices /zigman2/quotes/209727031/delayed CLX26 0.00% sloughed off early losses, putting West Texas Intermediate crude up about 0.5%.
Among oil producers, France’s Total SA /zigman2/quotes/206172043/delayed FR:FP +1.02% rose 0.4%, while Norwegian offshore engineer Subsea 7 SA /zigman2/quotes/202505552/delayed NO:SUBC +5.35% pushed 2.4% higher.
Indexes: London-listed blue-chips logged the biggest gains in the European market, aided by a drop in the pound /zigman2/quotes/210561263/realtime/sampled GBPUSD -0.4103% after Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May signaled the government plans a “hard” exit for the country from the European Union. The FTSE 100 /zigman2/quotes/210598409/delayed UK:UKX -0.31% climbed 1.2% to close at 6,983.52.
France’s CAC 40 /zigman2/quotes/210597958/delayed FR:PX1 -0.82% rose 0.1% to end at 4,453.56.
The euro /zigman2/quotes/210561242/realtime/sampled EURUSD -0.5011% was at $1.1212, down from $1.1238 late Friday in New York.
Economic news: A final reading of eurozone manufacturing activity met expectations, with IHS Markit’s final PMI reading coming in at 52.6 in Septembe r, with growth in new orders, output and employment each showing improvement. Activity in Italy expanded while France moved closer to stabilizing, IHS Markit said. The September PMI was higher than August’s reading of 51.7.
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