European stocks close

European stocks fell, extending a two-week decline, as Novo Nordisk A/S sank the most in almost four years after failing to win U.S. approval for a new drug.

Novo Nordisk, the world’s largest insulin maker, tumbled 13 percent. Lundin Petroleum AB lost 10 percent after the company said resources at its Johan Sverdrup oil discovery in the North Sea may be toward the low end of forecasts. Royal Ahold NV rallied 3.9 percent after agreeing to sell its 60 percent stake in ICA, Sweden’s largest food retailer, for $3.1 billion.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.6 percent to 285.51 at 4:32 p.m. in London.

National benchmark indexes fell in 11 of the 18 western European markets.

FTSE 100 6,277.06 +13.13 +0.21% CAC 40 3,650.58 +1.08 +0.03% DAX 7,633.74 -18.40 -0.24%

Novo Nordisk, which accounts for 0.9 percent of the Stoxx 600 by weighting, lost 139.50 kroner to 930.50 kroner, the biggest drop since April 2009. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said its Tresiba diabetes medication can’t be approved without additional data on heart safety and the Danish drugmaker won’t be able to provide the information this year, according to a statement from Novo Nordisk.

Lundin Petroleum fell 16.60 kronor to 148.30 kronor in Stockholm after saying resources in its part of the Johan Sverdrup discovery will probably be within the lower half of the forecast for 800 million to 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Fugro NV dropped 7.2 percent to 39.07 euros in Amsterdam after supervisory board Vice Chairman Frans Cremers quit the biggest deepwater-oilfield surveyor. The company said in a statement that changes in financial organisation of Fugro “were not adequately carried through.”

Wacker Chemie AG increased 9.4 percent to 60.78 euros after the polysilicon maker ramped up production at a plant in Burghausen, Germany, citing growing demand from its solar-power customers. The company had put about 700 employees at the plan on shorter hours in October.

Bilfinger SE gained 2.5 percent to 75.80 euros after Germany’s second-largest construction company forecast an increase in profit in 2013, driven by savings and demands for engineering work and services in the power industry. The company reported a 2 percent gain in sales last year to 8.64 billion euros.