LONDON (Reuters) - European stocks edged higher in early trading on Friday, set to seal their longest winning streak in over three years as fresh deal-making stole the spotlight from the tail-end of a busy earnings season.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (STOXX) index was up 0.1 percent by 0724 GMT, set for its seventh straight week of gains - its longest winning streak since March 2015. Germany's DAX (GDAXI) and Britain's FTSE 100 (FTSE) were both flat in percentage terms.
Though moves at the index level were muted, M&A news livened up early trading. Shares in Sika (S:SIK) soared nearly 11 percent to the top of the STOXX after the Swiss chemicals company reached an agreement with French building materials firm Saint-Gobain (PA:SGOB) to end a long-standing legal dispute.
Saint-Gobain, whose shares rose 2.2 percent, is to take a large stake in Sika, but not majority control.
Shares in Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) (L:DMGOa) were also big movers, up nearly 9 percent, after U.S.-based private equity firm Silver Lake Management Company agreed to acquire ZPG (L:ZPG), the owner of British property websites Zoopla and PrimeLocation, for 2.2 billion pounds ($3 billion).
DMGT is the biggest shareholder in ZPG, whose shares rocketed around 30 percent to a record high. Shares in fellow British classifieds websites Rightmove (L:RMV) and Auto Trader (L:AUTOA) both gained around 4.5 percent.
While the first quarter earnings was winding down in Europe, basic resources (SXPP) was the best-performing sector after shares in ArcelorMittal (AS:MT) rose 3.6 percent. The world's biggest steelmaker beat earnings forecasts and gave an upbeat outlook for 2018.
So far blended year-on-year earnings growth for the first quarter has come in at 16 percent for MSCI EMU, in dollar terms, compared with 26 percent for the S&P 500, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.