(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
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* ING to quit French retail banking business
* Sanofi's $1 bln Amunix buyout to add to drugmaker's
pipeline
* European chipmakers rise on Micron's quarterly beat
* Bollore soars after $6.4 bln offer for African logistics
assets
(Updates to close)
By Anisha Sircar and Shashank Nayar
Dec 21 (Reuters) - European shares ended higher on Tuesday,
recovering Monday's losses, with a jump in commodity-linked and
travel stocks offsetting concerns about the spread of the
Omicron coronavirus variant.
The pan-European STOXX 600 added 1.4%, with miners
and oil stocks among the biggest winners amid
higher copper and crude prices. Travel shares also
gained.
"Santa was nowhere to be seen in the doom and gloom
yesterday, and a lot of people are buying the dip today, but
investors are so nervous about what's happening that the
slightest bit of news is tipping their hand," said Danni Hewson,
financial analyst at AJ Bell.
The benchmark STOXX 600 rebounded after two days of losses,
with fears of COVID-related restrictions across Europe
continuing to weigh on sentiment, while a lack of liquidity
ahead of year-end holidays could add to volatility.
London's FTSE 100 rose 1.4% on strong gains in
energy firms Royal Dutch Shell and BP and miners
Rio Tinto and BHP Group.
Meanwhile, British retail sales growth fell sharply in the
first half of December as Omicron concerns kept shoppers away, a
monthly survey showed.
German consumer morale is expected to further darken at the
start of 2022 as the new coronavirus variant clouds the outlook
for Europe's largest economy, a new survey showed.
Additionally on Tuesday, New Zealand postponed its border
re-opening plans until the end of February.
Among stocks, semiconductor firm ASML Holding
jumped 3.6% to be the biggest boost on the benchmark European
index after U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology beat market
expectations in its trading update..
Peers ASM International, Infineon Technologies
and STMicroelectronics rose between 0.5% and
1.6%.
Sporting goods makers Adidas and Puma
added 0.6% and 0.7% respectively following Nike's
quarterly beat.
Bollore leaped 11.5% to the top of the STOXX 600
after the conglomerate owned by billionaire Vincent Bollore's
family received a $6.4 billion offer for its African logistics
assets.
Sanofi gained 0.9% after announcing it would buy
Amunix Pharmaceuticals for about $1 billion.
Dutch financial services company ING rose 3.2%
after saying it would quit the French retail banking business,
in a move that could affect 460 employees.
(Reporting by Anisha Sircar and Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru;
Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Mark Potter)
