However, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank also released their monetary policy decisions last week, and were much more hawkish in their comments. They said interest rates needed to stay high for an extended period and that there was no discussion of cutting interest rates.

Today, precious metal miners are among the top fallers, weighed down by Fresnillo, which lost 8% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating to "underweight" from "equal-weight".

Among individual stocks, Iliad SA is finalizing a proposal to Vodafone Group PLC to combine their telecommunications operations in Italy. The proposal values Vodafone Italia at 10.45 billion euros and is expected to generate revenue of 5.8 billion euros with an EBITDA of approximately 1.6 billion euros for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Vodafone shares jumped 6.5% following the news.

Entain climbed 4.9% after Jefferies upgraded its rating to "buy" from "hold".

Unilever received a binding offer from private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners to acquire its Elida Beauty division, which includes over 20 beauty and personal care brands. Elida Beauty generated a turnover of around 800 million euros in 2022. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2024, pending regulatory approval.

GSK's cancer drug combination met the primary goal in a late-stage trial, showing progression-free survival in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer.

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