(Sharecast News) - European shares ended the Monday session on a mixed note, despite fears of a US government shutdown, while a raft of pharma stocks were in focus across the continent.
The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index edged up 0.18% to 555.53 Germany's DAX ended the day little changed, higher by 0.02% to 23,745.06 and Italy's FTSE Mib slipped 0.22% to 42,554.40.

US President Donald Trump is due to meet congressional leaders in Washington to avert a government shutdown.

Brent crude oil futures gave 2.48% to trade at $67.65 a barrel on the ICE, whilst euro/dollar was roughly flat at 1.1726.

Gold futures on COMEX established a fresh record at $3,862.20/oz..

Asian shares were broadly higher overnight, boosted by a weak dollar in response to the latest political turmoil in the US and upbeat factory profit data in China showing the first gains in four months.

On the European economics front, eurozone economic sentiment nudged higher in September, according to a survey released on Monday by the European Commission.

The EC's economic sentiment indicator rose to 95.5 from 95.3 in August. The indicator for the European Union, meanwhile, ticked up 0.6 points to 95.5. in September.

The employment expectations indicator for the eurozone fell 1.3 points to 96.4 in September, while the index for the EU declined 0.9 points to 97.1. Both indicators remain below their long-term average of 100.

In equity news, shares in Danish biotech company Genmab fell as it unveiled plans to buy Utrecht-based cancer drugmaker Merus in an $8bn deal.

UCB surged after trial data showed the Belgian drug company's its experimental skin disease treatment Bimzelx outperformed competitor MoonLake's sonelokimab.

Financière de Tubize, which holds a stake in UCB, soared 20% on the news.

GSK rose 2% after the UK pharma giant said Emma Walmsley would step down as CEO and be replaced by insider Luke Miels in January.

AstraZeneca was 0.8% higher after the drugmaker said it would keep its UK listing and HQ and would directly list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange instead of the current depository shares.

Lufthansa gained 1% after the German carrier announced plans to axe 4,000 administrative jobs by 2030 and set higher profitability targets.

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