Europe close: Shares end on mixed note despite improvement in trade news
European stocks finished on a mixed note on Wednesday, despite positive comments on Sino-US trade out of Washington and a surprise improvement in French consumer confidence.
By the end of trading, the Stoxx 600 was 0.32% higher at 409.81, as Germany's Dax climbed by 0.38% to 13,287.07, although the French CAC 40 dipped by 0.05% to 5,926.84. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.36% at 7,429.78.
Wall Street's main indices finished higher during the previous session after US President Donald Trump said that America and China were in the "final throes" of securing a phase-one trade deal following a 16-month standoff.
However, America's commander-in-chief also told reporters that he stood with pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, a move that some observers believed could anger Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The back and forth of the trade discussions has been at the forefront of traders' minds recently. Equity markets are posting gains, but the upside moves aren't massive as dealers are mindful that things still could fall apart.
The breakdown in trade talks in June hasn't been forgotten by traders.
INSEE's French consumer confidence index unexpectedly rose to 106.0 in November, beating consensus expectations for the figure to contract by one point to 103.0 following a print of 104.0 for October.
France's national statistics institute said: "Households' opinion balance on their future financial situation has gained two points and the one related to their past financial situation has gained one point. These two balances thus remain above their long-term average.
"Furthermore, the share of households considering it is a suitable time to make major purchases has slightly increased compared to last month."
Among individual stocks, Finnish ship technology specialist Wartsila climbed after analysts at JPMorgan raised their target price for the stock.
French engineering group Altran rose after activist hedge fund Elliott said it was critical of Capgemini's €3.6bn offer for the company, arguing that similar deals in the sector had featured considerably higher premiums.
Stock in Knorr Bremse was in the red after the German brakes manufacturer's results fell short of expectations, while Klépierre fell after a downgrade to 'hold' from analysts at HSBC.