Europe: Shares steady, Monte dei Paschi surges

[LONDON] European shares steadied early on Monday after re-opening following the Christmas holiday, with investors seen as reluctant to place strong bets in thin year-end trading.

The Euro STOXX 50 index was flat in percentage terms at 0808 GMT, Germany's DAX was up 0.04 per cent, while France's CAC fell 0.1 per cent.

Banca Monte dei Paschi rose 3 per cent after Italy's third-largest bank said it had signed a binding agreement to sell a portfolio of non-performing loans with a gross book value of 1 billion euros (S$1.5 billion) to a Deutsche Bank vehicle, said on Monday.

However, shares in Adidas fell 0.4 per cent after the company's CFO Robin Stalker told Boersen-Zeitung that he expected sourcing costs to rise by half a billion euros in 2016 due to negative currency effects.

REUTERS