Global recovery hopes drive European stocks to 1-week high

[March 26, 2021] (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Friday, helped by gains in commodity-linked companies as investors balanced worries about surging coronavirus cases with the prospect of a strong U.S. economic recovery.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.8% by 0810 GMT, hitting a one-week high. The benchmark was on course for its fourth straight weekly rise.

Mining and oil & gas stocks were the top gainers in Europe, up 2.1% and 1.8%, helped by higher commodity prices.

UK-listed copper miner Kaz Minerals Plc rose 2.9% after it received a final bid worth 4.02 billion pounds ($5.53 billion) from Chairman-led Nova Resources.

Market sentiment, for most part of the week, was weighed down by worries about new lockdowns and a slow pace of vaccination in the euro zone, but optimism about a stimulus-driven recovery in the United States brightened the outlook for global growth.

British insurer Aviva was up 2.1% after it sold its Polish operations to Germany's Allianz for 2.5 billion euros ($2.94 billion) in cash. Allianz gained 1.3%.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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