Market Analysis

European shares started the day lower on Friday, led by a selloff in technology stocks, while Carlsberg Group from Denmark faced a steep decline following Britvic's rejection of its revised $3.9 billion takeover offer.

As of 0715 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.2%. The technology sub-index fell 0.6% after a strong 2% gain in the previous session. Meanwhile, the construction and materials sector slipped 0.7%, and retail dropped 0.5%, influenced by Morgan Stanley's downgrade of British discount chain B&M to "underweight" from "equal-weight," causing a 1.8% decline.

Despite these declines, the European benchmark was still poised for modest weekly gains, bouncing back from a more than 2% decline the previous week triggered by concerns over French President Emmanuel Macron's call for a snap parliamentary election.

In other market movements, Zealand Pharma from Denmark surged 23.1% after reporting positive results from an early-stage study that showed significant weight reduction with its drug. Conversely, Carlsberg Group saw its shares tumble nearly 6% after Britvic dismissed its takeover bid, citing undervaluation concerns. Britvic's stock, in contrast, rose sharply by 14.4% on the news.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.