By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Novo Nordisk AS on Monday knocked the
air out of Europe's benchmark stock index after a setback in the
U.S., while the region's other bourses traded mixed ahead of a
meeting of euro-zone finance ministers later in the day.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index lost 0.3% to 286.54, partly erasing a
1.2% gain from Friday.
Asian markets offered little inspiration, as most major markets
were closed for holidays.
Shares of Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk (NVO) slumped 12% after
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its
new-drug applications for insulin Tresiba and a related product,
Ryzodeg.
The FDA requested additional cardiovascular trial data, which
Novo Nordisk doesn't expect to be able to provide during 2013.
.
The setback for Novo Nordisk helped send French rival Sanofi SA
(SNY) 4.3% higher, as the two firms have been competing to dominate
the lucrative insulin market.
Also on the move in Europe, shares of Dutch food retailer Royal
Ahold NV jumped 4.3%. Sweden's Hakon Invest AB said it would buy
the 60% of shares it doesn't own in Nordic food retailer ICA for 20
billion Swedish kronor ($3.11 billion) from the Dutch company.
Shares of Hakon Invest soared 16% in Stockholm.
The broader moves for the European stock markets followed strong
performances on Friday, when bourses rallied after encouraging
trade data from China and the U.S.
Monday was light on the data calendar for Europe, with attention
falling on the meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, known as the
Eurogroup, later in the day in Brussels, where aid package for
Cyprus and an evaluation of Greece's progress in its rescue program
were likely to top the agenda.
Among country-specific indexes in Europe, the FTSE 100 index
rose 0.3% to 6,281.79. Shares of Tesco PLC (TESO) gained 1.2%,
after Exane BNP Paribas lifted the supermarkets firm to neutral
from underperform.
Germany's DAX 30 index rose 0.2% to 7,669.90, with shares of
Commerzbank AG 1.6% higher.
France's CAC 40 index added 0.6% to 3,671.15.
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