The Copenhagen Stock Exchange opened with gains Monday morning, driven by optimism surrounding the EU-US trade agreement and a private equity bid for Bavarian Nordic.

The C25 index, comprising the 25 most traded stocks, initially rose by about one percent before settling to a +0.86 percent increase after fifteen minutes of trading. GN Store Nord, a hearing aid manufacturer, led the gains with a 3.35 percent surge in share price.

Bavarian Nordic experienced an early rise of 1.70 percent, initially outpaced by pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Zealand Pharma, both up by around 2.10 percent. However, Bavarian Nordic quickly caught up following news of a takeover bid from two private equity funds.

Asian stock exchanges exhibited mixed performance following the announcement of the trade agreement on Sunday. The US is set to impose a 15 percent tariff on European goods, a move that has drawn criticism from the EU.

In Asian markets, the Tokyo Stock Exchange decreased by 1.10 percent, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong increased by 0.70 percent, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange increased by 0.16 percent. South Korean Kospi rose by 0.42 percent, while the Australian ASX-200 rose by 0.36 percent.

European stock exchanges largely mirrored the Asian development upon opening. Shortly after 9:10 AM, the FTSE 100 index was at -0.20 percent and the German DAX at -0.32 percent.

Investment economist Per Hansen from Nordnet views the stock market reactions as a period of observation. “Right now, investors are assuming that some kind of agreement has been made that needs to be fleshed out over the coming months. At the same time, Europe needs to figure out whether the US should be a market that fills a much smaller role in the future. I think that’s a possibility, but hardly very likely. It has become more expensive to export to the US, and it has become more expensive for an American to buy European goods,” he says.