European shares rebound as Italy eases stance on bank levy

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By 0705 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 added 1.0% to touch a one-week high.

Euro zone banks gained 1.4% after a 3.5% slump a day earlier, as Italy set a cap at 0.1% of total bank assets for the new tax, after a surprise announcement of a 40% windfall tax on lenders sparked a sell-off.

Italian lenders such as Intesa Sanpaolo (OTC:ISNPY), Banco BPM and UniCredit added between 1.7% and 2.5%.

Investors also appeared to shrug off data that showed China’s consumer sector fell into deflation and factory-gate prices extended declines in July, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled to revive demand.

Among individual stocks, Delivery Hero climbed 5.8% after the German online takeaway food company raised its full-year revenue outlook.

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) inched up 0.5%, extending gains from Tuesday when the Denmark-based drugmaker’s shares hit a record high after it said its obesity drug reduced the risk of heart disease.