Europe midday: Markets rise on Sino-US optimism, German data in focus
European stocks were firmer at noon on Friday, as comments from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin ignited Sino-US trade hopes, while German consumer sentiment missed expectations.
At 1158 GMT, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.6% higher at 417.42, as Germany's DAX jumped by 0.6% to 13,293.34 and the French CAC 40 rose by 0.6% to 6,006.90. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.2% at 7,589.97.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "It's been quite a strange week, all things considered. The US President has been impeached, we've got a new UK government after it was confirmed around this time last week that the Conservatives have their biggest majority in decades and today, said government will likely pass the EU withdrawal bill.
"And yet, this has largely been a week to forget as long as the markets are concerned. I guess when you remove all of the political theatre and strip it down to what what it all means, there's nothing there that really moves the needle and ultimately, that's all investors care about."
Speaking on CNBC, Mnuchin said he was confident that negotiators from Washington and Beijing would be able to sign a phase one trade deal in early January following a "technical, legal scrub".
"We are going through a technical issue now where again the agreement is translated. I don’t expect there’s any changes. We’ll sign the agreement in the beginning of January," said Mnuchin.
Meanwhile, data from the GfK institute showed that German consumer sentiment inched lower to 9.6 in December, dropping below November's reading of 9.7 and falling short of a predicted increase to 9.8.
While economic and income expectations deteriorated, consumers' propensity to buy, which had already sat at a high level, gained slightly.
Rolf Bürkl, consumer expert at GfK, said: "Propensity to buy has been bolstered by the European Central Bank's monetary policy. The threat of having to pay penalties on investments has resulted in propensity to save falling to an all-time low and has made saving less attractive. This is certainly good news for retailers at the end of the year."
Among individual stocks, STMicroelectronics climbed after it announced that it will collaborate with Chinese tech giant Tencent's latest 'internet of things' operating system.
Italian payments group Nexi was also in the green after it agreed to buy Intesa SanPaolo's merchant acquiring business for around €1bn.
Spain's Enagas climbed for a second day in a row following news that Zara founder Amancio Ortega has bought a 5.0% stake in the business.
Royal Dutch Shell was lower after it warned that it will be hit by impairment charges of up to $2.3bn in the fourth quarter, while the company also trimmed its fourth quarter production sales guidance.