By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets traded mixed on
Monday as investors digested both better-than-expected Chinese
export data and an unexpected drop in German industrial
production.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1% to 316.08, after last
week's 2.7% loss.
Shares of GDF Suez SA gained 2.2% after Bank of America Merrill
Lynch lifted the French utility firm to buy from neutral.
Shares of Tullow Oil PLC fell 3% after the oil-exploration
company said it has plugged a well in the South Omo block onshore
Ethiopia and abandoned it as a dry hole.
More broadly, investors looked to Asia, where Chinese trade data
spurred optimism about the global economic recovery. Exports rose
12.7% in November, well ahead of both October's 5.6% and analyst
expectations. Meanwhile, inflation for the same month came in at
3%, slightly below forecast.
In Europe, data showed industrial production in Germany dropped
1.2% in October, below expectations of an increase of 0.8%. The
figures signaled a weak start to the fourth quarter for the
country's important industrial sector, but the economics ministry
was comforted by rising business sentiment indicators, predicting
that German manufacturing should again expand in coming months.
Additionally, Germany's trade surplus narrowed and was lower
than expected in October, as imports sharply rose and outpaced a
modest increase in exports.
Germany's DAX 30 index , however, was slightly higher at
9,176.06, supported by the utility firms. Shares of RWE AG gained
0.8% and E.ON SE picked up 0.7%.
Sky Deutschland AG jumped 4.3% outside the main index in
Frankfurt after the TV-operator purchased the broadcast rights in
Germany for Europe's UEFA Champions League until the end of the
2017-2018 season.
France's CAC 40 index dropped 0.4% to 4,112.70 and the U.K.'s
FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% to 6,540.59.
Mining firms added pressure in London as metals prices were
mostly lower. Shares of Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) lost 1.1% and Anglo
American PLC fell 1%.
Outside the main indexes, shares of Inmarsat PLC rallied 5.1%
after the satellite-telecom firm said it had successfully launched
its first Global Express satellite.
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