Europe open: Shares up as investors ponder US-China relations, ECB stimulus
European shares were higher on Friday morning as relations between China and the US appeared to soften further, while investors mulled the European Central Bank's policy moves.
At 0931 BST, the Stoxx 600 was up 0.2% at 391.15 as Germany's Dax rose by 0.3% to 12,445.22, London's FTSE 100 edged 0.1% higher to 7,349.36 and the French CAC 40 climbed by 0.3% to 5,660.48.
In further signs of warmer and more positive relations between the two superpowers, with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Washington and Beijing could agree to a trade pact at "any time" as the two sides prepare to return to the negotiating table next month.
Rumours also surfaced of the Trump administration agreeing to an interim trade deal with China that could delay some US tariffs.
Craig Erlam, market analyst at Oanda, said: "While this was quickly and strongly denied by the White House, Trump didn't sound too opposed to the idea. Perhaps he's getting a little nervous about the lack of progress and proximity to the election, not to mention the lack of support from the Fed."
"This could make or break his election campaign and a limited interim deal may be enough to insulate the economy and give him another four years to get more. Investors would certainly welcome it."
Thursday saw the long-anticipated European Central Bank announcement of new stimulus measures, with the central bank cutting the deposit facility rate from minus 0.4% to minus 0.5% and committing to a quantitative easing package of €20bn per month.
Neil Wilson, market analyst at Markets.com, said: "We sense a bit of disappointment after the ECB despite the QE ad infinitum – Draghi delivered in many ways but it's just increasingly clear the ECB is out of ammunition. For me Draghi delivered all he could with a last blitz of stimulus in a kind of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid type finale."
Among individual stocks, banks such as CaixaBank, Banco de Sabadell, Bank of Ireland and AIB all featured among the top risers on the Stoxx 600 as the ECB's new stimulus package lifted financial stocks.
Deutsche Bank shares rose after the company agreed to pay $15m to to settle its part of a lawsuit over allegations of price-fixing in US government bond deals.