With less than half a day of trade left before Friday's closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 2.6% for the week, with these three ASX 200 stocks racing ahead of those gains.
Here's what's been grabbing investor interest this week.
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Two ASX 200 stocks leaping more than 19%
The first outperforming company this week is Qube Holdings Limited (ASX: QUB).
Shares in the logistics solutions provider closed last Friday trading for $4.07. In early afternoon trade today, shares are changing hands for $4.85 apiece. That sees this ASX 200 stock up 19.2% over the week.
Most of those gains were delivered on Monday. That came after Qube announced that Macquarie Assessment Management had lobbed a takeover bid for the company. Macquarie is offering $5.20, or 27.8% above the prior day's closing price. This values Qube at $11.6 billion.
Qube's directors indicated their unanimous initial support for the takeover deal, barring a superior offer.
Moving on to the second ASX 200 stock shooting the lights out this week, we have Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) shares.
Shares in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) stock closed last week at $2.85 and are currently trading for $3.41 each. This puts Zip shares up 19.7% for the week.
There was no new price sensitive news out from Zip this week. But investors look to have been buying Zip shares amid rising hopes of a December interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve.
Economists at JPMorgan now expect the Fed to reduce rates by 0.25% in December, with another 0.25% cut pencilled in for January. That's partly based on recent dovish comments from Fed members, like John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The US is a growth market for Zip, which already generates more than half its revenue in the world's top economy. And BNPL stocks like Zip have proven to perform materially better in low and falling rate environments.
Leading the charge
Which brings us to the top weekly-performing ASX 200 stock on my list today, National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR).
Shares in the largest self-storage provider in Australia and New Zealand closed last week trading for $2.25. At the time of writing, shares are swapping hands for $2.71. That puts the National Storage share price up 20.4% for the week.
As with Qube, the ASX 200 stock leapt higher this week following news of a potential takeover offer.
Shares surged on Wednesday, after the company confirmed media speculations that Brookfield Property Group and GIC Investments had lobbed an unsolicited, non-binding takeover proposal.
The offer, should it get the green light, would see National Storage shareholders receive $2.86 per share for their current holdings.
