European markets hit fresh high in final full session before Christmas – CNBC
LONDON — European markets closed higher on Tuesday, paring the previous session’s losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.3%, notching a new record closing high, lifted by surging shares of Copenhagen-listed Novo Nordisk.
That brings the benchmark’s year-to-date gains to 16%. With a week to go, it looks on track for its third consecutive year of gains.
Investors are watching Novo Nordisk stock after the Wegovy-maker gained FDA approval for the first-ever GLP-1 pill, giving the Danish firm a head start over U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Novo stock closed 9.2% higher as the best performer among European large-cap companies.
Shares of fellow Danish drugmaker Zealand Pharma which is also developing weight loss medicines closed 1.6% higher. The Stoxx 600 healthcare index moved more than 1% higher.
Meanwhile, French biotech Abivax extended gains into a second day, advancing 3.8%. The company — one of Europe’s best-performing stocks this year — popped 15.4% on Monday.
Danish renewables giant Orsted pared some losses Tuesday following a 13% drop on Monday after the U.S. Department of the Interior said it was suspending leases on five offshore wind projects already under construction. Orsted successfully challenged the Trump administration‘s stop-order on the nearly-completed Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island when it was halted earlier this year. The stock closed 1.3% higher in Tuesday trading.
Elsewhere, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen brushed off President Donald Trump’s appointment of a “special envoy” to the Danish territory. Trump has made multiple entreaties to acquire Greenland, which is particularly luring for its rare earths depository.
Gold and silver futures also reached fresh highs on Tuesday, after having just done so on Monday. They were last seen trading at $4,493 per ounce and $70.47 per ounce, respectively. The metals have soared this year, smashing consecutive price records as risk assets lost ground.
Final GDP data from Spain was released on Tuesday, confirming provisional data released last month that showed a year-on-year growth of 2.8% for the third-quarter.
Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher Tuesday, after the AI trade lifted major Wall Street indexes overnight, before closing nearly flat. Stateside, stocks traded modestly higher by midday Tuesday after a strong start to a shortened trading week.
— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.
