Europe midday: Stocks higher despite mixed news on US-China talks

Stocks are seeing slight gains even as investors digest news of the reportedly acrimonious end to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit at the weekend, after US vice-President, Michael Pence, and China's Xi Jinping set out conflicting visions for the region.

Nevertheless, Wall Street had finished higher on Friday, boosted by seemingly confident remarks from the US President himself regarding the outlook for his meeting with Xi at the end of the month.

Commenting on the state of affairs in Sino-US relations, Josh Mahony at IG said "[they] remain just as icy as ever, despite recent hopes of an impending trade deal between the two sides. Recent gains for the Australian dollar and Chinese Yuan highlight optimism that we are moving in the right direction.

"[...] Unfortunately, there are precious few signs of a shift in tone from either sides, and with issues such as IP theft remaining a topic that seems to have no solution (due to Chinese rejection that it occurs), some issues seem destined to remain a roadblock to future progress."

At the weekend, Pence cautioned countries in South East Asia not to let themselves be lured into debts with Beijing, a charge that was denied by Xi.

In a more conciliatory tone, Pence reportedly also said that competition between the great powers in the region need not result in hostility and that Washington believed issues could be resolved at the negotiating table.

For the first time ever, no joint statement was issued following the APEC summit.

As of 1335 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was edging higher by 0.22% or 0.80 points to 358.50, alongside an advance of 0.10% or 10.52 points to 11,352.47 for the German Dax, while the FTSE Mibtel was adding 0.47% or 89.27 points to 18,967.88.

France's Cac-40 meanwhile was up by 0.16% to 5,033.18, dragged down by a 9.30% slump in shares of Renault following reports that its boss, Carlos Gohn, was facing arrest in Tokyo for break of financial trading laws.

Also boosting sentiment around the globe was a retreat in the market-implied odds of a December rate hike in the US to around 70%, a level which is not typically associated with interest rate increases.

To take note of, in the background investors were also braced for a possible announcement from Brussels, on Wednesday, that it was opening an Excessive Deficit Procedure against Rome.

Ahead of that, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said on Friday that he was planning a meeting with European Commission President, Jean Claude Juncker, with the details to be agreed at the start of the following week.

In economic news, the European Central Bank reported that the euro area's current account surplus fell from €24.0bn for August to €18.0bn in September.

Separately, according to Eurostat, Eurozone construction output jumped by 2.0% month-on-month in September.

Elsewhere on the corporate front, stock in Telecom Italia was bolstered at the start of the week after the operator named Luigi Gubitosi, an ex Merrill Lynch banker, as its new boss, in a move that market participants believed would bring a smile to the face of activist investor Elliot Management, which is pushing for an overhaul of the firm.