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Spectris ( SEPJF ) up on approving Britain's biggest takeover this

year

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Holcim gains after completing Amrize spin-off

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Novo Nordisk slips after CagriSema data

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Euro zone growth stalls in June

(Updates with morning prices)

By Sanchayaita Roy and Sukriti Gupta

June 23 (Reuters) - European shares were mixed in choppy

trading on Monday, amid escalating geopolitical tension after

the U.S. joined Israel in striking Iran's nuclear facilities

over the weekend.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index edged down 0.01%

at 536.57 points, as of 0900 GMT. The regional indexes were

mixed - Germany down 0.1%, France down 0.1%,

Spain up 0.1%, and the UK up 0.04%

Iran said on Monday that the U.S. attack on its nuclear

sites expanded the range of legitimate targets for its armed

forces and called U.S. President Donald Trump a "gambler" for

joining Israel's military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

As the aerial attacks between Israel and Iran continued,

markets feared that an Iranian retaliation to the U.S. attack

may include a closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most

important oil artery.

"Markets are definitely pricing in this risk to some extent,

but it's quite obvious that it's not likely to be prominent

because we're still seeing some positive momentum in equities,"

said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

"Closing the Strait of Hormuz is highly unlikely at this

point because strategically it doesn't bode well for Iran,"

Hathorn added, noting that further retaliation from Iran also

seems improbable at this time.

Meanwhile, the July 8 U.S. tariff-pause deadline

approaches with little progress on trade deals with Washington.

Hathorn said despite Trump's tough talk, he made

concessions earlier, leading markets to expect further

negotiations.

The euro zone economy flatlined for a second month in

June, barely expanding, as the bloc's dominant services industry

showed only a small sign of improvement and manufacturing

displayed none at all, a survey showed on Monday.

Another survey showed British business activity expanded

modestly in June.

Technology stocks led gains in the regional index,

rising 0.6%. Oil and gas sector was up 0.3% as oil

prices jumped on fears of supply disruption following the

weekend strike on Iran.

Europe's aerospace and defence stocks lost 0.9%.

Among stocks, Spectris ( SEPJF ) rose 14.9% after private

equity firm Advent said it will acquire the scientific

instruments maker in a deal valued at 4.4 billion pounds ($5.91

billion).

Holcim gained 11.1% after the Swiss building

materials company completed the spin-off of its North American

business Amrize.

Shares in Novo Nordisk fell 2.8% after the Danish

drugmaker presented full results from two late-stage trials of

its experimental weight-loss drug CagriSema.

UCB gained 4.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the

biopharmaceutical company to "overweight" from "equal-weight".

($1 = 0.7443 pounds)