Europe open: Markets lower after Hong Kong violence, far-right surge in Spain

European stocks were lower on Monday morning, after a weekend of violent protests in Hong Kong dampened hopes for a resolution to the US-China trade conflict.

At 0920 GMT, the Stoxx 600 was 0.2% lower at 404.73, as Germany's Dax fell by 0.2% to 13,206.11 and the French CAC 40 rose by 0.1% to 5,892.86. London's FTSE 100 was down by 0.6% at 7,316.76.

Another weekend of chaotic demonstrations in Hong Kong culminated with a marcher being shot by police and a pro-Beijing counter-protester being set on fire.

AxiTrader analyst Stephen Innes said the increasing intensity of protests posed a risk to any trade deal drawn up by Washington and Beijing, with the US Senate already set to pass legislation in support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy activists.

"China has already said it will retaliate once the bill is passed. In the past, however, the US and China have isolated issues like this from broader tariff negotiations but will this latest incident where a protester was shot by the police, on Veterans Day no less, factor into the overall trade negotiations. It’s hard to imagine how it won’t," said Innes.

Luxury goods stocks such as Richemont, Kering, Moncler and LVMH were all lower following the weekend's unrest as Hong Kong is an important market for high-end brands.

In Spain, the IBEX 35 was down by 0.2% at 9,370.70 after the Socialist Party won the largest portion of the vote in Sunday's elections but were unable to secure a majority, as the support for far-right parties surged.

Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said: "After a fourth election in four years, there is still political deadlock. No clear winner emerged from the vote, but the right is resurgent. The lack of any consensus here is a troubling reminder of what might happen in Britain if there is a hung parliament."

Among individual stocks, UK bakery chain Greggs was the top riser after it said it now anticipates profit will beat expectations due to a 12.4% jump in sales during the first six weeks of its fourth quarter.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis was also on the rise after snapping up the Japanese generics unit of South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare for €400m.