Europe open: Shares flat; Exor gains on Covea talks report
European shares were flat at the opening on Monday as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of another raft of big corporate earnings reports.
The pan-European Stoxx followed a similar session in Asia, where markets made small advances as the spectre of China Evergrande's $300bn debt mountain still looms large.
"Evergrande, having made an offshore coupon payment in a nick of time on Friday, faces another in four days’ time on 29 October," said Oanda analyst Jeffrey Halley.
"Its chairman has said work has restarted on property projects in China, and it is going big on its EV division in the decade ahead. Where all that money is coming from, I know not, and markets seem to be sharing the same thoughts."
Eyes will be on results from the likes of Facebook later today and Lloyds Bank and German peer Deutsche Bank during the week.
Oil and copper prices rose, giving miners a lift, while in other equity news, Anglo-Asia bank HSBC gained after third quarter profits rose 74% and a $2bn share buyback was unveiled as it released $700m in bad debt provision set aside to cover losses from the Covid pandemic.
Shares in Exor, the Italian holding company of the Agnelli family, rose to the top of the Stoxx, on reports it had entered new talks with French mutual insurer Covea over reinsurer PartnerRe after discussions over a potential $9bn deal were called off last year.
Shares in TSB owner Banco Sabadell rose after it confirmed it had rejected a bid approach from the Co-op for the British banking chain.
UniCredit fell 3.6% after the Italian government and the bank ended talks over the sale of troubled Tuscan bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, hitting attempts to return the bank to private hands.