LONDON — European markets were higher on Tuesday, paring the previous session’s losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.2% by 12:37 p.m. in London (7:37 a.m. ET). In the first hours of trade, the index hit a fresh high of 588.42 points just days after surpassing its previous record.
The benchmark has risen 14% higher this year and, with a week to go, it looks on track for its third consecutive year of gains.
Investors will be watching Novo Nordisk stock after the Wegovy-maker gained FDA approval for the first-ever GLP-1 pill, giving the Danish firm a head start over U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Novo Nordisk’s share price was last seen 8% higher.
Fellow European health name Zealand Pharma also saw its shares rise by 2.3%. The Stoxx 600 healthcare index moved 1.3% higher.
Shares in French biotech Abivax extended gains into a second day, advancing 3.3%. The company — one of Europe’s best-performing stocks this year — popped 15.4% on Monday.
Danish renewables giant Orsted shed 13% on Monday after the U.S. Department of the Interior said it was suspending leases on five offshore wind projects already under construction. Orsted successfully challenged the Trump administration‘s stop-order on the nearly-completed Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island when it was halted earlier this year. Its shares moved 1.4% lower in early afternoon trade.
Elsewhere, Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen brushed off President Donald Trump’s appointment of a “special envoy” to the Danish territory. Trump has made multiple entreaties to acquire Greenland, which is particularly luring for its rare earths depository.
Gold and silver futures also reached fresh highs on Tuesday, after having just done so on Monday. They were last seen trading at $4,522 per ounce and $69.71 per ounce, respectively. The metals have soared this year, smashing consecutive price records as risk assets lost ground.
Final GDP data from Spain was released on Tuesday, confirming provisional data released last month that showed a year-on-year growth of 2.8% for the third-quarter.
Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly higher Tuesday, after the AI trade lifted major Wall Street indexes overnight. Stateside, stock futures traded near the flatline Monday night after a strong start to a shortened trading week.
— CNBC’s Elsa Ohlen and Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.
