Europe open: Markets rise on mixed Sino-US news, Brexit in focus
European stocks were higher on Monday morning, as investors digested mixed news for Sino-US relations after a chaotic weekend of Brexit action.
At 0853 BST, the Stoxx 600 was 0.4% higher at 393.46p, as Germany's Dax climbed by 0.6% to 12,707.26 and the French CAC 40 rose by 0.2% to 5,644.91. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 was up by 0.5% at 7,186.10.
In Sino-US news, Chinese Vice Premier Liu said the two superpowers had "made substantial progress" in many aspects of negotiations and "laid an important foundation for a phase one agreement".
A rather less positive development came as Washington announced that US Vice President Mike Pence will make a speech on China-related policies on Thursday.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Mr Pence is known to be an outspoken hawk on China, so traders were fearful the politician might play hardball to set the scene for the next round of US-China trade talks.
"The US are still due to impose 15% tariffs on $160bn-worth of Chinese imports in December, so dealers are fearful Mr Pence will be wheeled out to take a tough stance against Beijing."
The House of Commons on Saturday voted to withhold approval of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's withdrawal deal until legislation to implement it is in place, forcing Johnson to request another Brexit delay from the EU.
Johnson appears likely to push for a meaningful vote on the withdrawal deal later today, but any debate on the subject could be blocked if the Speaker of the House opts to prioritise other bills.
Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said: "We need to see if Speaker John Bercow allows it – his record on frustrating Brexit is well known. Otherwise the government will bring forward implementation legislation quickly to drive through the bill in time so that a delay is not required.
"The government thinks it has the numbers for the deal in its raw form to pass."
Among individual stocks, Tomra Systems surged after the Norwegian recycling specialist reported strong third quarter results.
German payments firm Wirecard was also on the rise following news it has commissioned an independent audit after the Financial Times raised questions about its accounting practices.
Swedish real estate developer Fabege dropped after weak third quarter results, while German contemporaries such as Deutsche Wohnen were in the red after Berlin's local government approved a five-year rent freeze.