Europe midday: Stocks waver in tight range as investors sift through earnings and data

European stocks flitted between small gains and losses in fairly quiet trade as investors sifted through another batch of earnings reports and data releases.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.3%, Germany’s DAX was 0.1% higher and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.3%.

“European shares are trading little changed this morning as once again solid corporate earnings out of Europe are being neutralised by weaker Chinese markets,” said Markus Huber, senior analyst at Peregrine & Black.

“Concerning China all eyes are on the release of tomorrow’s important manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs. Further indications that the economy is still not anywhere close to turning the corner could certainly spook Chinese stocks again which already have been battered substantially over the past few weeks,” he added.

China’s Shanghai Composite fell over 1% on Friday.

Shares in French bank BNP Paribas made strong gains after it swung to profit of €2.56bn in the second quarter, compared with a loss of €4.22bn the previous year.

Carrefour nudged a touch higher after it reported a rise in first-half profit on the back of stronger sales in its home market.

Airbus rallied after posting a 6% increase in first-half core operating profit.

BG Group edged higher. Although it posted a 65% slump in second-quarter net income on the back of declining oil prices, the numbers were still ahead of expectations.

British Airways and Iberia owner International Consolidated Airlines Group pushed up after it it beat profit forecasts for the second quarter and said it enjoyed a 5.6% increase in passengers.

On the downside, Vallourec slumped nearly 6% after saying its net loss worsened in the second quarter and cautioning that falling demand in the oil and gas industry will hit the second half.

In London, shares in Lloyds Banking Group slipped. The bank reported a 15% increase in underlying first-half profits but its second-quarter disappointed.

As well as corporate news flow, investors sank their teeth into a couple of key Eurozone data releases.

Figures released earlier showed the rate of unemployment for the bloc was unchanged at 11.1% in June, although the number of jobless people rose by 31,000 as Italy’s jobless rate increased to 12.7% from 12.5%.

Elsewhere, data from the European Union’s statistics agency showed consumer prices in July rose 0.2% year-on-year, falling short of the European Central Bank’s target of just under 2%.

"Today’s data provide further justification for the ECB to complete its quantitative easing programme in full and we still suspect that additional monetary policy support will be needed to bring inflation anywhere near target,” said James Howat, European economist at Capital Economics.

Still to come on the macroeconomic front, US data will be in focus, with the Chicago PMI at 1445 BST and University of Michigan sentiment at 1500 BST.