European Shares Tick Higher As German Factory Orders Surge

(RTTNews) - European stocks were flat to slightly higher on Monday as investors braced for a barrage of central bank commentary and the release of the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last monetary policy meeting scheduled for later in the week.

There was some cheer on the data front, with Germany's factory orders rebounding at a stronger-than-expected pace in May.

Factory orders expanded 1.9 percent on a monthly basis in May, in contrast to the revised 3.2 percent decrease in April, Destatis said. Orders were forecast to grow 1.1 percent.

On a yearly basis, growth in factory orders accelerated to 6.2 percent from 2.1 percent in the previous month.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up by 0.1 percent to 653.45 after climbing 0.7 percent to hit a record high and log a fourth straight week of gains on Friday.

The German DAX gained 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 added half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.3 percent.

Vinci, a French concessions and construction company, fell more than 1 percent despite bagging three long-term road infrastructure and maintenance contracts in Greater London with a combined value of nearly €70 million per year.

Thales rallied 2 percent. The technology and defense firm has agreed to buy the Gorge family's 35.51 percent stake in high-technology industrial group Exail Technologies.

EasyJet soared 11 percent. The British budget airline has agreed in principle to a takeover offer worth around £5.2bn from U.S. investment firm Castlelake.

Ocado Group declined 2.2 percent. The online grocery and technology group announced that Tim Steiner would continue to serve as chief executive until the start of the 2028 financial year.

ING shares gained 1 percent. The Dutch lender said it would acquire from Warburg Pincus a stake of about 40 percent in Singular Bank, Spain's leading independent wealth manager.