Europe close: Stocks struggle for direction amid lack of data

European stocks opened the week on a downbeat note, as they ended their best winning streak since July on Monday.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index closed down 0.28%, while Germany’s DAX was 0.23% higher and France’s CAC 40 was 0.27% weaker.

The euro was broadly flat against the dollar but fell 0.19% and 0.25% against the pound and the yen respectively, while Brent crude tumbled 2.01% to $51.61.

“Oil prices have slipped back after the gains of last weeks failed to push prices through some key technical resistance levels,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“The fact that OPEC announced in its latest numbers that output climbed to a three year high in September, probably also helped.”

On an extremely quiet day on the economic data front on both sides of the Atlantic, investors were already focusing on a number of economic reports that could influence worldwide equity markets I the coming days.

“Dealers are looking ahead to Chinese trade balance figures due overnight overnight, and they are not taking any chances,” said IG’s analyst David Madden.

“There has been a lot of chatter about a stimulus package from Beijing, but that has neither been confirmed nor denied, and traders are getting anxious.

“There hasn’t been much newsflow in the markets today, and traders have developed the attitude that no news is bad news.”

In company news, shares in RWE and E.ON surged 9.55% and 5.18% after Germany's economy ministry said the utility companies have enough funds to pay for the shutdown and clean-up of nuclear power plants as decommissioning moves a step closer.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles pushed 0.86% higher after launching its initial public offering of Ferrari, in which it owns 90% of the shared issued and outstanding share capital.

Rolls-Royce Holdings and Safran SA lost 3.90% and 5.07% respectively after a report claimed European regulators have started a probe into whether airlines are being forced to enter anti-competitive service contracts

Belgium-based brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev climbed 0.05% after increasing its proposal to sector peer SABMiller to £43.50 per share after its London-listed rival rebuffed a third approach at £42.15 last week.