By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks were higher Monday, with
mining shares advancing after an upgrade of the sector.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2% to 339.33. European markets
on Friday fell back from a six-year high, following disappointing
corporate updates.
But Monday's push higher was supported in part by miners after
J.P. Morgan Cazenove's equity strategy team raised its view of the
group to overweight from underweight. The second half of 2014
should "see the sector's free-cash-flow improvement,
capital-returns potential and attractive relative valuation begin
to be appreciated more fully," wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Fraser
Jamieson.
Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) was named J.P. Morgan Cazenove's top pick in
the mining sector. The Anglo-Australian company's shares climbed
2.5%, the best performer on the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index . The equity
index was up 0.2% at 6,830.97.
But British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC lagged behind the FTSE
100, losing 2.4% after the company said it's talking to 21st
Century Fox about a possible purchase of its interests in Sky
Deutschland and Sky Italia. Sky Deutschland AG jumped 6%, the
strongest gainer on the Stoxx 600.
Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.3% to 9,602.31. France's CAC 40 ,
however, fell 0.2% to 4,469.95, as shares of Publicis Groupe SA
slipped 0.4%. The advertising company was removed from Goldman
Sach's conviction buy list after it and Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC)
last week called off their $35 billion merger.
Investors continued to keep watch on developments from Ukraine,
where Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine declared victory
in a secession referendum Sunday. Russia on Monday said it
respected the outcome of the referendum that took place in the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but Ukrainian officials dismissed the
vote as filled with irregularities.
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