Europe open: Markets lower on Sino-US trade concerns
European stocks were marginally lower on Monday morning amid reports that the US plans to exert further pressure on the Chinese economy before trade talks begin next week.
At 0837 BST, the Stoxx 600 was down 0.1% at 391.43, as the German Dax dropped by 0.1% to 12,363.22 and France's CAC 40 was 0.1% lower at 5,634.51. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was 0.1% higher at 7,431.61.
According to reports, Washington is looking to ramp up the pressure on Beijing by delisting Chinese stocks from US exchanges and limiting investment in the Chinese market from government pension funds.
Over the weekend, the White House denied that it was currently contemplating such measures.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said: "Refuted or not, the implication of this is two-fold: first that the trade/tech war is spiralling ever wider in its scope; secondly it does not bode especially well for the high level talks due to restart 10 October."
Meanwhile, China's official manufacturing PMI beat expectations but remained in contraction territory for the fifth consecutive month in September, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The official purchasing managers’ index for the manufacturing sector rose to 49.8 in September from 49.5 in August, exceeding expectations for an unchanged reading, while the private Caixin/Markit factory PMI survey also beat forecasts.
Analysts from Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "These data continue to point to some green shoots, but we aren’t getting carried away, and neither will the authorities.
"In any case, the possible private sector recovery hasn’t been enough to lift the whole economy, and hasn’t translated into capex yet."
Among individual stocks, drugmaker Swedish Orphan Biovitrum racked up solid gains after confirming it had agreed to buy US rare diseases specialist Dova Pharmaceuticals in a deal that valued it at up to $915m.
Meanwhile, Dutch telecoms firm Royal KPN fell as it withdrew the appointment of Dominique Leroy as its new chief executive amid an investigation by Belgian authorities into the sale of her shares in former company Proximus.