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The pan-European STOXX 600 edged up 0.7% as of 0818 GMT, with the energy sector climbing 1.4%. Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel after top exporter Saudi Arabia hiked prices for crude sold to Asia and the United States. [O/R]
Helping allay some concerns over Omicron, a South African health official said over the weekend that the variant caused mild infections, while top U.S. infectious disease official Anthony Fauci told CNN “it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity” so far.
Among stocks, French construction materials company Saint-Gobain rose 1% after announcing it was acquiring all shares in U.S.-based GCP Applied Technologies (NYSE:GCP) in a deal valued at around $2.3 billion.
Just Eat Takeaway.com slipped 3.3% after Bernstein downgraded the stock to “market perform, while Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) added 2.9% after J.P.Morgan upgraded the stock to “overweight”.
