By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Novo Nordisk rallies
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks were gaining ground
Friday, but the region's key benchmark was on track to snap a
lengthy string of weekly wins.
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.6% to 396.79, aided by advances for
health care, technology and consumer-goods shares.
The pan-European index's strongest performer was Novo Nordisk
A/S , with shares leaping 9.9% after the Danish pharmaceutical
company said it will resubmit applications for its Tresiba and
Ryzodeg insulin treatments to the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
"Because the company's medium-term growth projections depend on
U.S. Tresiba this is a positive for sentiment," analysts at
Barclays said in a note Friday.
But the Stoxx 600 still faced a loss of 2% for the week, which
would be its first weekly decline after seven weeks of gains. The
last run of eight weekly wins ended in June 2014.
European equities have recently been hitting record and
multiyear highs, but came under pressure this week in part as the
euro (EURUSD) regained ground against the U.S. dollar. A lower euro
has been a benefit for European exporters. On Friday, the euro was
buying $1.0819 compared with $1.0886 late Thursday.
On the country benchmarks, Germany's DAX 30 edged up 0.1% to
11,850.10. France's CAC 40 rose 0.2% to 5,015.54, and Spain's IBEX
35 fell 0.1% to 11,438.10. Read: Don't miss this 'gem' in Europe's
stock market, says Barclays
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dont-miss-this-gem-in-europes-stock-market-says-barclays-2015-03-26)
The U.K.'s FTSE 100
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-faces-weekly-loss-as-miners-lead-a-decline-2015-03-27)
fell 0.5% to 6,823.23, weighed by losses among mining and energy
shares. Meanwhile, the pound (GBPUSD) rose, trading at $1.4876,
after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney reiterated his view that
the next move in U.K. interest rates was higher.
Greece's Athex Composite climbed 1.4% to 775.49. The Greek
government is working on submitting a comprehensive list of
economic reforms
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-scrambles-to-hammer-out-proposals-as-clock-ticks-down-2015-03-27)
to submit to its creditors by Monday, with the move aimed at
securing more funding for the debt-troubled country.
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