Europe midday: Stocks come off lows, miners down sharply

European shares have come off their lows of the session, despite the release of data showing the weakest rise in factory output since the start of the recovery in July 2020.

But for the most part investors appeared to be sitting on their hands ahead of several key central bank meetings, including those of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England.

"Global growth stocks have taken a knock this morning after their recent strong run, but aside from a couple of result-related falls it seems like we just have a brief period of consolidation for equities," said IG chief market analyst, Chris Beauchamp.

"November, a strong month on average anyway, got off to a decent start yesterday as equities resumed their bullish form of October."

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was drifting lower by 0.07% to 478.54, alongside a 0.5% drop on Spain's Ibex 35 to 9,141.9.

Germany’s DAX however was outperforming with a gain of 0.6% to 15,901.60.

German bund yields, Brent front month crude oil futures, the euro and base metals' prices were all lower.

Mining stocks were lower on the back of a fall in iron ore and copper prices. Anglo American, BHP, Glencore, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto all fell.

That saw the Stoxx 600 Europe's gauge of Basic Resource companies drop 3.10% to 547.14.

According to analysts at SP Angel, caution in base metals was the result of rising Covid-19 infections in China. The broker also pointed out the lower effectiveness of Chinese vaccines, as well as elevated levels of pollution and high rates of smoking among the population which could leave it more susceptible to infections.

As an aside, they also said that funds were being gold as the collapse in iron ore fed into caution towards other metals.

Asian stocks finished the overnight session mixed with the Reserve Bank of Australia shifting towards a more hawkish policy stance.

In other equity news, Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered slumped 7.28% despite reporting a stronger-than-expected pre-tax profit for the third quarter, helped by lower credit charges.

Online betting group Flutter Entertainment was trading 6.23% lower after lowering full-year guidance due to unfavourable sports results and a temporary exit from the Netherlands.

THG was in the wars again, falling 5.34% on the back of reports BlackRock was preparing to sell nearly half of its stake in the company.

On the other side of the ledger, shares in meal-kit delivery firm HelloFresh soared 7.75% after raising its sales forecast for 2021.

On the economic side of things, IHS Markit's euro area Purchasing Managers' Index was revised higher to a reading of 58.6 for October, up from a preliminary reading of 58.5.

Nevertheless, the survey compiler said that supply bottlenecks had led to a drastic rise in lead times, with production and new orders both dented as a result and with rates of inflation pushing new records.

"Business confidence also lost some ground to hit a one-year low in October, as increasing numbers of producers grew concerned about the supply situation and the impact of rising costs and prices, adding to the indications that manufacturers face some challenging months ahead."

"[...] Average delivery times for raw materials lengthened at a rate exceeded only twice in almost a quarter of a century of survey data as companies reported demand once again running ahead of supply for a wide variety of inputs and components."