Europe open: Markets rise amid Sino-US trade optimism
European stocks were higher in early trading on Monday, as investor optimism for a Sino-US trade agreement was boosted by comments from Washington.
At 0851 GMT, the Stoxx 600 was 0.5% higher at 401.28, as Germany's Dax rose by 0.7% to 13,052.02 and the French CAC 40 climbed by 0.6% to 5,796.89. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.4% at 7,327.76.
US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross told Bloomberg on Sunday that an initial trade deal will be reached soon and added that American companies will be given licenses to do business with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei ‘very shortly’.
London Capital Group analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said President Trump may find an accrued interest for signing at least a partial trade deal with Beijing as he seeks to divert attention away from impeachment proceedings, get his Chinese counterparts to boost farm product purchases and regain popularity among rural voters.
"Afterall, a partial deal is certainly a better outcome from a market perspective. Leaving investors hungry for a comprehensive deal should help pushing the stock prices higher and Donald Trump needs the stock prices to rally for at least one more year," added Ozkardeskaya.
The IHS Markit Eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose from 45.7 to 45.9 during October, beating expectations for the reading to remain flat.
IHS Markit said Germany had been the principal source of manufacturing weakness in the region, despite experiencing a slight improvement in its respective PMI, while Austria saw a sharp deterioration in operating conditions and Spain's manufacturing PMI fell to a six-and-a-half year low.
Among individual stocks, Siemens Healthineers climbed after the German medical technology company beat fourth quarter sales and profit expectations, and said it expected strong growth to continue into next year.
Ryanair was also among the top risers, even as it narrowed full-year profit guidance and warned that passenger growth would be hit by a delay to the first deliveries of its new Boeing 737 MAX planes.