(Reuters) - A spate of dealmaking activity lifted European stocks in early trade on Monday along with an upbeat global mood on positive updates of U.S. President Donald Trump's health.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (STOXX) rose 0.7% by 0717 GMT, adding to a near-2% gain last week.
Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell (L:RDSa), BP (L:BP) and Total (PA:TOTF) gained nearly 2%, with crude prices climbing after an easing of the worst fears about Trump's health condition and an expanding workers' strike in Norway, Western Europe's largest oil producer. [O/R]
Spanish bank Unicaja (MC:UNI) gained 6.0% after a source told Reuters that it and Liberbank (MC:LBK) were holding informal talks about a potential tie-up to create the country's fifth-biggest lender.
German fertiliser group K+S (DE:SDFGn) jumped 13.5% after Bloomberg reported it was in advanced talks to sell its Morton Salt unit to Kissner Group for about $3 billion.
Dufry (S:DUFN) surged 12.2% after it revealed that China's Alibaba (N:BABA) planned to acquire a stake of up to 9.99% in the Swiss duty free group.
UK's Weir Group Plc (L:WEIR) rose 17.7% to the top of STOXX 600 (STOXX) as it had agreed to sell its oil and gas division to U.S. heavy equipment maker Caterpillar (N:CAT) for $405 million.