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Europe markets close higher amid easing geopolitical concerns; Fiat up 8%

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images. European stocks eked out slight gains on Friday afternoon, as investors digested new earnings, data and a political breakthrough in Germany.

European stocks closed higher on Monday after senior U.S. officials sought to play down risks of a military conflict with North Korea.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 (STOXX: .STOXX) ended 1.08 percent higher with all sectors and major bourses in positive territory.

Europe's banking index was among the top performers on Monday, up by more than 1.4 percent, with every firm in the sector trading higher. Standard Life Aberdeen rose 1.7 percent after the completion of the merger of Standard Life (London Stock Exchange: SLA-GB) and Aberdeen Asset Management (London Stock Exchange: ADN-GB).

Looking at individual stocks, shares of French food group Danone (: ) were over 1.5 percent higher on Monday after the New York Post reported that the firm could be a takeover target. A spokesperson from Danone said they had no comment to make in regards to the article, Reuters reported.

Fiat (Milan Stock Exchange: FCA-IT) took over the top of the European benchmark up by 8.15 percent after reports that a Chinese automaker has made at least one bid to buy the firm.

U.K. mid-cap Ladbrokes Coral (London Stock Exchange: LCL-GB) was among a handful of fallers on Monday after Credit Suisse (Swiss Exchange: CSGN-CH) downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral". Its shares slipped 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, in the U.S. stocks moved higher too as traders saw geopolitical tensions easing. The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 130 points at the open, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains.

Geopolitical concerns ease

Geopolitical concerns appeared to fade on Monday as U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote that the Trump administration would continue to seek diplomatic resolutions with Pyongyang. In a commentary published in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, the pair said, "The U.S. has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea."

On the data front, industrial production in the euro zone dipped by 0.6 percent in June, slightly worse than the 0.5 percent fall analysts had forecast. It did rise 2.6 percent on an annual basis, according to statistics office Eurostat.

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