Europe midday: Stocks extend bounce amid global trade worries

Stocks are adding to their early bounce amid the somewhat more optimistic sounding noises coming from global authorities on the outlook for international trade.

Nevertheless, trade worries were still very much front-and-centre on investors' minds according to the results of one of the most widely-followed surveys on sentiment.

Thus, earlier in the session the president of Germany's ZEW institute had said that: "Concerns over a US-led global trade conflict have made the experts more cautious in their prognoses. The strong euro is also hampering the economic outlook for Germany, a nation reliant on exports."

Nevertheless, he went on to say, "Combined with the experts' continued positive assessment of the current situation, however, the outlook is still largely positive."

As as an aside, in an article published the day before in the FT, Wolfgang Munchau had mused aloud about the damage that simultaneous US tariffs on German car exports and the impact of Brexit might wreak on the German economy.

Somewhat ironically, it was the release of the ZEW institute's economic sentiment index for Germany, earlier in the day, which had weighed on the euro, in turn putting a bid into stocks.

Against that backdrop, as of 1223 GMT the benchmark Stoxx 600 was higher by 0.37% or 1.37 points to 375.05, alongside a 0.39% or 47.27 point advance on the Dax 30 to 12,264.40 and a gain of 0.58% or 134.75 points to 22,767.94 for the FTSE Mibtel.

In parallel, euro/dollar was off by 0.40% to 1.2286.

The ZWE gauge, which summarises the views of institutional investors and analysts, fell from a reading of 17.8 for February to 5.1 in March, versus its long-term average of 23.6.

On a more positive note, in a speech to the annual session of the Chinese parliament overnight, Chinese premier Li Keqiang said his country would open its economy further so that domestic and foreign enterprises can compete on a level playing field.

That followed reports that surfaced on Tuesday night that the US administration was planning to levy as many as $60bn-worth of tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for the country's shortcomings when it came to guarding intellectual property rights.

Against that backdrop, markets were monitoring the conclusion of the G-20 finance ministers' meeting in Buenos Aires, on Tuesday, for any sign that global policymakers were making progress on finding a way out of the current impasse.

In other economic news, Germany's Finance Ministry reported that factory gate prices in the Eurozone's largest economy slipped from a 2.0% year-on-year clip in January to 1.8% for February.

Still ahead, at 1500 GMT by the release of the European Commission's euro area consumer confidence index for the month of March.

On the company side of things, shares of British conveyor-belt manufacturer Fenner were rocketing after becoming the second company in as many days to receive a buy-out bid from a rival from over the Channel.

France's Michelin had offered roughly £1.2bn for the outfit as it moved to bulk up its mining equipment arm.

In parallel, stock in Spain's Cellnex was hugging the unchanged line despite a report that Italy's Atlantia was looking to exercise an option to purchase a 29.9% stake in the operator, so as to avoid having to table a takeover bid for the entirety, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.