Europe midday: Gains held as pharma news dominates market

(Sharecast News) - European shares held gains on Monday despite fears of a US government shutdown while a raft of pharma stocks were in focus across the continent, The pan-regional Stoxx 600 gained 0.30% in early deals to 556.92 at 1150 BST. Germany's DAX was up 0.25, Britain's FTSE 0.65% and France's CAC 40 rose 0.12%.

US President Donald Trump is due to meet congressional leaders in Washington to avert a government shutdown.

Asian shares were broadly higher, also boosted by a weak dollar in response to the latest political turmoil in the US and upbeat factory profit data in China showing the first gains in four months.

"Green shoots for the Chinese economy may not be enough to hold markets higher this week however, if a US economic shutdown cannot be averted. President Donald Trump is due to receive congress colleagues at the White House today to discuss the issue - as the government is due to run out of money on Wednesday if a new funding deal cannot be agreed," said Emma Wall, chief investment strategist at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"The proposed deal will secure funding to mid-November. Failure to do so will put additional pressure on the US dollar, which has traded at multi-year lows in recent weeks."

In equity news, shares in Danish biotech company Genmab fell as it unveiled plans to buy Utrecht-based cancer drugmaker Merus in an $8bn deal.

UCB surged after trial data showed the Belgian drug company's its experimental skin disease treatment Bimzelx outperformed competitor MoonLake's sonelokimab.

Financière de Tubize, which holds a stake in UCB, soared more than 16% on the news.

GSK rose after the UK pharma giant said Emma Walmsley would step down as CEO and be replaced by insider Luke Miels in January.

AstraZeneca was also higher after the drugmaker said it would keep its UK listing and HQ and would directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange instead of the current depository shares.

Lufthansa rose after the German carrier announced plans to axe 4,000 administrative jobs by 2030 and set higher profitability targets.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com