European shares staged a recovery on Monday as retreating oil prices and upbeat corporate updates aided investor sentiment at the start of a week packed with central bank policy decisions, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.4% to 638.45 points by 1050 GMT, after logging its steepest weekly loss since early September on Friday. Danish biotech firm Genmab jumped 13.7% to the top of the STOXX after reporting encouraging follow-up data from a mid-stage trial of an experimental colorectal cancer treatment, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

A survey by the Ifo institute showed German business morale improved more than expected in October, and Germany's benchmark index gained 0.9%. European equities had been battered last week as tensions in France and higher oil prices soured investor sentiment — the protests intensified pressure on the euro zone's second-largest economy, which is grappling with soft economic growth and ballooning government debt, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

Oil pullback lifts travel, hits energy

Helping sentiment on Monday, oil prices eased from near six-month highs as hopes grew for a de-escalation in tensions between the United States and Iran. The broader energy sector was down 1.5%, while travel and leisure stocks, whose airline constituents are particularly sensitive to fuel prices, rose 1.6%, benefiting from the pullback in oil. Most major sectors on the STOXX traded higher, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26

Investor attention now turns to monetary policy decisions from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve due later this week. The ECB is set to meet on Thursday, with a pause widely anticipated after the central bank raised rates in June and September to counter rising inflation, as the Iran war pushed up energy prices. Economists polled by Reuters expect a quarter-point rate hike in December.

Source: Reuters, Oct 26