European stocks climb after bruising week

(Reuters) – European stocks followed Asian markets higher on Monday after a bruising selloff last week on global growth worries, while investors awaited a raft of business activity data.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6% by 0714 GMT after worries over a surge in COVID-19 cases and tighter scrutiny on Chinese companies drove its worst weekly performance in six months.

IHS Markit’s early August readings of business activity in the euro zone and UK will be released later in the day, with the numbers expected to mark a slight slowdown in activity.

Among individual stocks, British supermarket group Sainsbury’s jumped 6.6% following a report private equity firms were circling the firm with a view of possibly launching bids of more than 7 billion pounds ($9.53 billion).

Germany’s BioNTech rose 4.4% after a report said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was aiming to give full approval to its partner Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Switzerland-based Cembra Money Bank plunged 29.2% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after it terminated its credit card partnership with Swiss retailer Migros.

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