Europe midday: Manufacturing data boosts stocks, Dax nears record high

European equity markets mostly rose on Monday as investors took heart from strong eurozone manufacturing data and eyed minutes from the European Central Bank later this week.

At midday, Germany’s Dax was nearing a record high after encouraging manufacturing data lifted it 0.34% to 12,354.36, not far from the record 12,374.73 close reached on 10 April 2015.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.19% to 381.85 but France’s CAC was down 0.14% to 5,115.10.

In currency markets, the euro was flat versus the dollar at 1.0657 and up 0.47% against the pound to 0.85249.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said the Dax was outperforming thanks to euro weakness due to political concerns, which was helping exporters, while Linde's US merger and HeidelbergCement's lingering US growth optimism easily offset the losses at Deutsche Bank.

On the data front, led by Germany, the eurozone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 56.2 in March from 55.4 the month earlier, in line with consensus forecast and a near six year high.

German manufacturing PMI increased to a record high of 58.3 from 56.8, pointing to a rise in capital expenditure and production in the first quarter, while the French PMI rose to 53.3 from 52.2 in February, slightly lower than the 53.4 forecast.

Eurozone unemployment improved to 9.5% in February from 9.6% in January, as largely expected.

Investors were also looking ahead to Thursday’s release of the ECB’s minutes of the last meeting in March. Peter Praet, the central bank’s chief economist, said monetary policy is still required even though deflationary pressures have waned.

Meanwhile, oil prices were relatively steady as investors kept an eye on exports after Iraq told Opec that it would meet the terms of the agreement to reduce oil production. Last year the cartel, along with Russia, agreed to curb supply in a bid to increase pieces.

West Texas Intermediate was flat at $50.60 per barrel and Brent crude was down 0.11% to $53.47.

In corporate news, Banco Popular Español declined 5.05% after it said there needed to be adjustments made to its accounts for previous years after an internal audit.

Schneider Electric was up 0.44% after the French said it will sell its US data software business DTN to Swiss-based TBG for around $900m.

Sartorius fell 1.63% after the German biotech firm said full year sales could rise between 12% to 16%, higher than the previously expected.