LONDON: European shares edged down in early deals on Monday after a strong run of weekly gains, while deal making livened up trading with Britain's IWG and Portugal's EDP both surging higher on takeover offers.Oil stocks were the worst-performing as crude prices fell away from multi-year highs due to a surge in US drilling activity and resistance in Europe and Asia to US sanctions against Iran The STOXX 600 oil & gas index fell 0.4 per cent, while the broad pan-European index hovered near flat.Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.2 per cent as investors shrugged off progress in government-forming talks between the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the far-right League.Shares in IWG shot up 21.3 per cent after the British serviced office provider said it had been approached for a takeover by three rival suitors.EDP shares climbed 8.8 per cent after China's state-owned utility China Three Gorges offered $10.8 billion to take control of the Portuguese power firm.In results-driven moves, Dutch bank ABN Amro fell 4.6 per cent after reporting a drop in first-quarter net profit due to ongoing problems in the oil sector leading to impairments on loans to shipping and offshore services clients.Shares in Swedish property and investment company Lundbergs halved in price after a bonus 1:1 issue doubling the number of shares in the company.

Source: Economic Times May 14, 2018 08:26 UTC