Europe midday: Shares slide as China-inspired rally loses steam

European shares slid into the red at midday as a rally driven by an upbeat assessment of the Chinese economy from the country’s premier lost steam.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.13%, Major bourses were largely up after China's Premier Li Qiang said the country's economic growth in the second quarter would be higher than the first and was expected to reach the annual economic growth target of around 5%.

The news helped boost mining stocks, heavily dependent on Chinese demand for raw materials. Shares in Antofagasta, Anglo American, Glencore, and Rio Tinto were all up.

Elsewhere, investors will be looking at comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at a conference later in the day for any clues on the direction of monetary policy.

In other equity news, shares in JD Sports Fashion fell after the company warned of softer trade in its North American operations.

BT Group tumbled after UBS downgraded the shares to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ and cut the price target to 120p from 146p, as it assumed a halving of the dividend amid free cash flow pressures.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com