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(Reuters) -Gains in food-delivery stocks nudged European shares higher on Wednesday, even as investors were anxious about the outlook for global recovery amid a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the Omicron variant.
The pan-European STOXX 600 climbed 0.2%, adding to a 1.4% jump in the previous session, which was also its best day in two weeks.
Global markets have been on edge this month as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant pushes some countries to reimpose restrictions, disrupting travel and hampering economic activity.
“There’s a lot of treading water going on and waiting for the Omicron storm to hit, as a lot of traders are hanging on to every bit of scientific data around the severity of the new strain,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV).
“It’s going to be a very cautious mood for equities, rather than any kind of euphoria, heading into Christmas.”
Germany’s Delivery Hero jumped 7.6% to the top of the STOXX 600 after saying it would scale down its Foodpanda operations in the country and sell the subsidiary’s Japan unit, citing competition and labour shortages.
Just Eat Takeaway.com rose 5.3% after announcing a deal with One Stop, a British convenience store chain owned by Tesco (OTC:TSCDY), to handle orders and deliveries on its platform.
Germany is set to introduce new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 before New Year’s Eve, including limiting private gatherings for vaccinated people to a maximum of 10 people.
Thin liquidity and subdued risk sentiment have led to volatility in the benchmark in recent days as the possibility of new pandemic curbs threatens economies.
Still, the STOXX 600 is set to end the month 2.5% higher, nearly recouping last month’s 2.6% loss.
The biggest boosts to the index this year have been from banks and tech stocks, which have risen 30% and 29%, respectively, compared with the benchmark’s 19% rise.
Container shipping giant Maersk inched up 0.1% after agreeing to buy Hong Kong-based LF Logistics for $3.6 billion in an all-cash deal, as it seeks to expand beyond its core ocean freight business.
Norway’s Aker BP (NYSE:BP) slipped 3.0% and was at the bottom of the STOXX 600 with Lundin Energy after it announced plans to buy the oil and gas business of the Swedish firm.
Belgian visual tech firm Barco dropped 7.6% after saying component shortages caused delays that affected its third-quarter sales and forecast.
