By Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
(Reuters) -Germany’s DAX index led gains among its European peers on Monday, boosted by Adidas shares after an analyst upgrade, while investor focus was largely on major central bank policy meetings scheduled through the week.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.2% higher, with the DAX up 0.9%.
German sportswear maker Adidas jumped 5.5% to the top of DAX after Bernstein raised its rating on the stock to “outperform” from “market perform”, as it expects factors such as the return of Chinese influencers and Lionel Messi’s move to Inter Miami is “likely to drive U.S. market share” for Adidas.
Luxury majors LVMH and Hermes climbed 1.8% and 3%, respectively, further supporting the STOXX 600.
Meetings of the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan are lined up for the week.
The Fed is seen holding rates steady at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, while the ECB is expected to hike interest rates by another quarter percentage point on Thursday to tame stubborn inflation.
“The ECB has picked up momentum in the last three months or so, but up until then it was sticking to more conservative hikes,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com, noting the ECB was cautious at the beginning of the year amid a recession risk in Europe triggered by the energy crisis.
The STOXX 600 started the year on a stronger footing compared to the S&P 500 index but lost steam during the second quarter due to a rise in preference for growth-oriented stocks as opposed to value stocks.
Meanwhile, UBS climbed 0.8% on completion of its emergency takeover of embattled local rival Credit Suisse.
“UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti is already a seasoned professional when it comes to restructuring UBS, he’s done it on multiple occasions over the past 13 years and this is likely to be his most challenging task to date given the politics that are involved,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a note.
Shares in Italian broadcaster MFE-MEDIAFOREUROPE NV rose as much as 5.9% after founder and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi died at age 86.
Novartis added 0.7% after it said it agreed to acquire Seattle-based biotech firm Chinook Therapeutics for up to $3.5 billion.
Shares in SES tumbled 14.6% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the satellite company announced its chief executive Steve Collar would step down.
Ocado gained 3.6% after BNP Paribas Exane upgraded stock.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng and Shinjini Ganguli)
