Europe open: Markets higher ahead of Sino-US talks, German data eyed
European stocks were lower on Monday morning as weak German data soured the mood and nervous investors awaited the restart of trade talks between the US and China.
At 0934 BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.1% lower at 380.17 with all major bourses in the red.
A Bloomberg report over the weekend said China was reluctant to sign a broader trade deal and had narrowed the number of topics for discussion, dampening investor optimism ahead of a resumption of talks between the two nations on Thursday.
The report stated China was unwilling to compromise on things like government subsidies or industrial policy - areas where the US is looking for reform.
German factory orders declined by 0.6% on the month in August, an improvement on the revised 2.1% drop seen in July but steeper than the 0.3% dip expected, according to Destatis.
The figures, which come after the release of a slew of poor eurozone services and manufacturing data last week, were driven lower by a fall in domestic orders, which dropped by 2.6%, while foreign orders were up 0.9% compared to the previous month.
Among individual stocks, Osram Licht was the Stoxx 600's top faller after a takeover bid from Austrian chipmaker AMS failed to gain the approval of 62.5% of the German lighting group's shareholders.
Lundin Petroleum was on the up after production commenced at Norway's immense Johan Sverdrup oilfield, which Lundin holds a 20% working interest in, with production slated to reach a rate of 440,000 barrels a day by next summer.
(Writing by Frank Prenesti; Editing by Michele Maatouk)