European shares were higher at the start of the trading week on hopes that the Ukraine crisis could be resolved diplomatically after US and Russian leaders agreed in principle to holding a summit.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.43% after the French president, Emmanuel Macron said Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden had agreed to attend a summit aimed at de-escalating the crisis, although the US continued to warn that war is imminent.
“Amid the uncertainty, some investors chose not to maintain positions over a weekend which is extended by today’s Presidents Day holiday,” said Interactive Investor head of markets Ruchard Hunter.
“In turn, this will lead to lighter volumes globally and this thinner liquidity is likely to exacerbate price movements given the high fragility of sentiment at the moment.”
“Concerns around the inflationary and tightening monetary environment have certainly not dissipated, but for the moment these concerns are secondary to the Russia and Ukraine tensions, with markets gyrating on the newsflow.”
In equity news, airline stocks were all higher on hopes that the Ukraine standoff could be ended, allowing a full resumption of travel. East European airline Wizz Air, British Airways owner IAG, Lufthansa and budget carrier Ryanair made gains.
Shares in French car parts group Faurecia rose as it forecast a rise in annual sales and expected semiconductor shortages to ease from the second half of 2022.
Worldline jumped 3.3% after the payments company entered exclusive talks to sell its TSS terminals business to US financial company Apollo Funds in a deal potentially worth around €2.3bn.
French vaccine maker Valneva gained 3.7% after saying its Scottish unit has received a grant of up to £20m to partly fund the research and development of manufacturing its Covid-19 vaccine VLA2001.
