Europe close: Stocks little changed, caught in summer doldrums

The main European equity benchmarks ended on a mixed note as the single currency staged a small bounce, despite strength in miners' shares.

By the closing bell, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was off by 0.14% or 0.52 points to 382.01, as the Cac-40 edged higher by 0.09% or 4.45 points to 5,207.89 while Italy's FTSE Mibtel climbed 0.43% or 95.38 points to 22,031.17.

Stronger-than-expected figures for the US jobs market in July published during the previous session had led to a sharp bounce in the US dollar, albeit from the more than two-year lows at which it was trading at the time. Yet come Monday that recovery appeared to stall, despite the release of weak German industrial output figures.

"The wider question with respect to Friday’s rebound is whether it will materially alter sentiment surrounding the US dollar which has gone from being overwhelmingly bullish at the beginning of the year to overwhelmingly bearish in a short space of time.

"This heavy bias towards the downside could result in a squeeze of US dollar short positions and prompt some relief for European equity markets over the next few days, however it is unlikely to change the longer term direction for the US dollar, which unless the Trump administration gets its act together, could well have further to fall," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

From a sector standpoint, the Stoxx 600's gauge of Basic Resource companies' shares was among the best performers, rising 1.69% to 422.55 on the back of renewed gains for steel and iron ore prices during Chinese trading hours.

Overnight, Beijing asked the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Shandiong and Henan - alongside existing curbs in Beijing and Tianjin - to slash their production of steel by half during the peak winter heating months, lasting from late November to end February, in order to curb their emissions.

That saw iron ore and rebar futures jump by their daily limit at one point during the Chinese trading session.

In economic news, German industrial production fell by 1.1% month-on-month in June, missing forecasts for growth of 0.2% and almost fully reversing a gain of 1.2% in the previous month, according to Federal Office of Statistics.

Yet analysts at Capital Economics said they continued to expect German industry to perform well, pointing to forward-looking indicators and gains for industrial orders over the preceding two months to back up their case.

Traders were also keeping a close eye on the start of a two-day meeting of representatives from OPEC nations to analyse member countries' compliance that began on Monday.

In the States, the spotlight will be on Fedspeak, with St.Louis Fed chief James Bullard set to deliver a speech at 1500 BST, followed by his counterpart at the Minneapolis Fed, Neel Kashkari, at 1925 BST.

Fresenius Medical Care announced the purchase of American home dialysis equipment maker NxStage for $2bn in cash.
Year-to-date, European aeronautics champion Airbus had clinched 205 net aircraft orders, the company announced.

Italy's Saipem was expected to come away with an approximately $800m contract for part of a project to construct a refinery in Oman, Reuters reported citing a source with knowledge of the matter.

According to Il Sole 24 Ore, on Monday Vivendi would have to respond to a request from the country's regulator, Consob about whether it had control of Telecom Italia.