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SummaryCompaniesPorsche gains on narrower-than-feared operating lossHSBC falls on $1.1 billion hit in Madoff caseNovartis to buy Avidity for about $12 billion Oct 27 (Reuters) - European shares hit an intraday record high on Monday as signs of easing trade tensions between the United States and China boosted risk appetite. The continent-wide STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab edged up 0.1% to 576.08 points, as of 0948 GMT. Other major regional indexes struggled for a clear direction. U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China are set to "come away with" a trade deal, as he is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart later this week to decide on the framework of a trade deal hashed out over the weekend. Advertisement · Scroll to continue A deal would pause steeper U.S. tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, calming investor nerves. "We still seem to be overshadowed by geopolitical situations. Some positive developments between the US and China seem to be boosting sentiment towards the market... that's a good place to start and hopefully then some fundamentals might drive markets on during the week," said Michael Field, chief equity analyst at Morningstar. European banks (.SX7P), opens new tab added 0.5%, tech sector (.SX8P), opens new tab rose 1.5%, while stocks of healthcare (.SXDP), opens new tab and food and beverage (.SX3P), opens new tab declined 0.8% each. Investors also await major central bank meetings due later this week for monetary policy cues. Advertisement · Scroll to continue The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting on Wednesday, a view supported by a softer-than-expected inflation report on Friday. The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates steady later this week. Among corporate updates, Porsche AG (P911_p.DE), opens new tab rose 1.5% after the luxury carmaker reported on Friday an adjusted operating loss that was smaller than the market had feared. Shares in Sydbank (SYDB.CO), opens new tab rose 6.4% after the Danish bank agreed to a merger deal with Vestjysk (VJBA.CO), opens new tab and Arbejdernes Landsbank. Novartis (NOVN.S), opens new tab fell 1.3% after the drugmaker said on Sunday it agreed to acquire U.S. biotech firm Avidity Biosciences for about $12 billion in cash. London-listed shares of HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L), opens new tab lost 1.1% after saying it will book a $1.1 billion provision in its third-quarter results after losing part of an appeal in a lawsuit tied to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. Kemira (KEMIRA.HE), opens new tab fell 4.1% after Inderes downgraded the stock, while drugmaker Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab declined 2.2% after a Jefferies downgrade. Meanwhile, a survey showed German business morale rose in October. Reporting by Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Shailesh Kuber Purchase Licensing Rights
