London - European shares kicked off June on a positive note on Monday, helped by a rise in pharma stocks, although main indexes were still stuck in their recent range as uncertainty persisted over Greece's future.
AstraZeneca and Roche, both up 2 percent, led a rise in the health-care sector after each published a positive update on one of their anti-cancer drugs.
They helped boost the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index , which was up 0.9 percent at 1,599.98 points after shedding 2 percent the previous week.
Athens and its euro zone and International Monetary Fund (IMF) creditors have been locked in talks for months on a cash-for-reforms agreement. Athens faces a payment to the IMF on June 5 as well as the expiration of its bailout programme on June 30.
“We were short at the end of last week but we're neutral now,” Markus Huber, senior trader at Peregrine & Black, said.
“Greece may not get a deal (this) week but they will probably make the (IMF) payment.”
Investors were awaiting May manufacturing data from major euro zone countries and the currency bloc as a whole between 07h45 GMT and 08h00 GMT. Monthly German inflation data, which helped spark a selloff in bonds in May, was due at 12h00 GMT.
Shares in Vestas Wind fell 2.1 percent, the top fallers on the FTSEurofirst 300, after Citigroup analysts downgraded the stock to “sell” from “hold”.
“Vestas' growth profile does not appear as compelling as the cap goods sector,” the analysts wrote in a note.
Reuters