Europe close: Stocks shake off geopolitical angst to end higher

European shares continued to push higher on Wednesday as investors as concerns about the impact of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan ebbed.

An upwards revision to survey data showing eurozone manufacturing and services output contracted only marginally last month also propped up investor sentiment, although other data was less upbeat.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.51% to 438.29 after Asian stocks had fallen overnight over concerns about rising US-China tensions.

Germany's Dax was also on the front foot rising 1.03% to 13,587.56, while the FTSE Mib added 1.0% to the day at 22,574.90.

Euro/dollar drifted lower by 0.08% alongside to 1.0158.

The S&P Global eurozone PMI composite output index - which measures production from both the manufacturing and services sectors - fell to 49.9 from 52.0 in June, coming in below the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion and marking the first dip below since February 2021.

It was nonetheless better than a preliminary reading of 49.4.

Oil prices were lower even after the OPEC+ group of producers hiked their output quotas for September by a smaller-than-expected 100,000 barrels per day.

In equity news, shares in German carmaker BMW fell 5% after warning of a highly volatile second half.

Cybersecurity firm Avast surged 44% after the UK competition regulator provisionally cleared NortonLifeLock's $8.6bn takeover of the London-listed rival.

Coffee giant JDE Peet's jumped 11% after reporting a 15.7% increase in first-half organic sales.

Shares in UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey gained 6% after the company said annual earnings would be at the top end of forecasts.

Lloyds of London insurer Hiscox dipped after swinging to an interim loss despite a strong underwriting performance. In the six months to 30 June, the company swung to a pre-tax loss of $107.4m from a profit of $133.4m in the same period a year earlier.