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Oct 5 (Reuters) - A spate of dealmaking activity lifted
European stocks in early trade on Monday along with an upbeat
global mood on positive updates of U.S. President Donald Trump's
health.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 0.7% by 0717
GMT, adding to a near-2% gain last week.
Oil majors Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L , BP BP.L and Total
TOTF.PA gained nearly 2%, with crude prices climbing after an
easing of the worst fears about Trump's health condition and an
expanding workers' strike in Norway, Western Europe's largest
oil producer. O/R Spanish bank Unicaja UNI.MC gained 6.0% after a source
told Reuters that it and Liberbank LBK.MC were holding
informal talks about a potential tie-up to create the country's
fifth-biggest lender. German fertiliser group K+S SDFGn.DE jumped 13.5% after
Bloomberg reported it was in advanced talks to sell its Morton
Salt unit to Kissner Group for about $3 billion. Dufry DUFN.S surged 12.2% after it revealed that China's
Alibaba BABA.N planned to acquire a stake of up to 9.99% in
the Swiss duty free group. UK's Weir Group Plc WEIR.L rose 17.7% to the top of STOXX
600 .STOXX as it had agreed to sell its oil and gas division
to U.S. heavy equipment maker Caterpillar CAT.N for $405
million.