Europe midday: Stocks slip amid gains for the euro

European markets have moved slightly lower ahead of this evening's meeting of euro area finance chiefs to discuss the disbursement of further aid and possible debt relief for Athens, amid renewed gains for the single currency.

The economic situation in the euro area and post-programme surveillance for Spain were also expected to be on the table.

As of 1145 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was 0.17% lower to 390.84, with the Dax giving back 0.50% to 12,575.22 and the Cac-40 off by 0.05% to 5,321.77.

Milan's FTSE Mibtel was moving 1.13% lower to 21,324.11.

"Equity indices are mixed around the half-way mark. The UK's FTSE outperforms thanks to a stronger oil price ahead of the OPEC Thursday meeting and GBP weakness vs USD and EUR. Germany's DAX suffers from fresh EUR strength vs USD while Dow futures hover around breakeven, holding their Friday gains as they appear to give Trump another benefit of the doubt and maintain confidence in US growth," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

To take note of, strategists at JP Morgan reiterated their 'overweight' stance on euro area equities, singling out telecoms and banks as potentially interesting, arguing that forecasts for earnings growth were not excessive.

They recommended clients focus on domestic-focused names versus exporters, adding that they were bullish on the euro and cautious on the US dollar.

In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were 0.83% higher at $54.06 a barrel on the ICE.

Commenting on the likely content of Monday night's Eurofin meeting, Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank said: "the discussion today will be about how much debt relief is required which will subsequently pave the way for the next tranche of bailout aid to be released. The big sticking point continues to be the participation of the IMF and the ongoing clashes between the Fund and Germany."

At the weekend, Spanish Socialists voted in their party primaries to elect the more leftist of three candidates, Pedro Sanchez, to lead the the party.

Nevertheless, analysts at Barclays Research were relatively upbeat telling clients they still expected Spanish economic growth to outperform that of the rest of the Eurozone although a slightly negative reaction was expected in the country's sovereign debt.

Spain's benchmark 10-year bond yield was higher by four basis points to 1.61%.

Still on the economic calendar for Monday, at 14:00 BST investors were waiting on a speech from the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, with his opposite number at the Minneapolis Fed, Neel Kashkari, set to to take to the podium a half hour later together with Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans after the close of markets in New York.

Volkswagen was seeing slight gains on the back of a Bloomberg report that private equity outfits Permira and CVC Capital Partners were running the ruler over its Italian motorcycle unit, Ducati.

Analysts Berenberg upped their target for shares of ING from €12.5 to €13.0, staying at a buy, with JP Morgan
downgrading Vinci from 'overweight' to 'neutral'.

Meanwhile, Dassault Aviation was reportedly eyeing a sale of its Rafale fighter jet to Mumbai.

Brussels asked that private investors inject another €1.3bn into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, according to Il Messaggero.