(Reuters) – European shares opened lower on Friday, with technology shares at the helm of the selloff, while Danish brewer Carlsberg Group slumped after British soft drinks maker Britvic rejected its $3.9 billion revised takeover proposal.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.2%, as of 0715 GMT, with the technology sub-index losing 0.6% after rising nearly 2% in the previous session.
The construction and materials sector slipped 0.7%, while retail shed 0.5% as British discount chain B&M fell 1.8% after Morgan Stanley lowered its rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight”.
The European benchmark was still on track for modest weekly gains, following a more than 2% drop last week when markets were rattled after French President Emmanuel Macron had called for a snap parliamentary election.
Among other stocks, Denmark’s Zealand Pharma, jumped 23.1% after an early-stage study showed a high dose of its drug helped reduce weight by an average 8.6% after 16 weekly doses.
Carlsberg Group dropped nearly 6% after Britvic rejected its takeover bid, citing that the proposal “significantly undervalued” the group and its prospects. Shares of Britvic jumped 14.4%.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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