Europe close: Stocks end off lows as oil futures perk up
Stocks came off their worst levels of the day as crude oil futures perked up and trading on Wall Street got off to a positive start.
The benchmark Stoxx 600 ended 0.23% or 0.91 points lower to 387.62, as the Dax left behind 60.59 points or 0.47% to trade at 12,733.41 and the Cac-40 gave back 0.30% or 15.81 points, slipping to 5,266.12.
Front month Brent crude oil futures were higher by 0.64% at $45.51 a barrel on the ICE as the diplomatic situation between Qatar and several of its Arab neighbours grew more tense.
Meanwhile, better than expected readings on new home sales and manufacturing and service sector purchasing managers index boosted stocks in the US.
In parallel, euro-dollar was 0.39% higher to 1.1196.
"The euro is also trading a little higher today, supported by good PMI numbers from the eurozone, Germany and France. While some of the numbers have come off their recent highs, they still remain well above 50 – the level that separates growth from contraction – and point to stronger growth for the region," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.
Earlier in the day, IHS Markit announced that its composite Eurozone manufacturing and services sector purchasing managers output index for June fell from 56.8 in May to 55.7 for June - a five-month low.
Weakness was centred on services, with the composite output gauge for that sector retreating from 56.3 to 54.7.
Economists had forecast a print of 56.6.
Nonetheless, for IHS Markit's chief business economist, Chris Williamson, June's figures should to be interpreted in the context of recent elevated readings.
"Despite the June dip, the average expansion in the second quarter has been the strongest for over six years and is historically consistent with GDP growth accelerating from 0.6% in the first quarter to 0.7%," he said.
French gross domestic product sped ahead at a 0.5% quarter-on-quarter clip, the same as over the previous three months (consensus: 0.4%).
Still on the European economic calendar for Friday, the Belgian central bank was set to publish its business confidence gauge for June at 1200 BST.
Scheduled for release later in the session, IHS Markit was also due to release its US factory sector PMI for June at 1445 BST, followed by new home sales data from the Commerce Department at 1500 BST.
On the corporate front, Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that Allianz was planning to cut 700 jobs in Germany over the next three years.
According to Italian daily Il Messaggero, the European Commission granted an informal green light to the rescue of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca.