Europe midday: Stocks edge higher in quiet trade

European stocks edged higher amid low volumes on Monday, with many traders in Europe away from their desks for the Assumption Day holiday.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 was 0.1% higher and Germany’s DAX was up 0.5%.

At the same time, oil prices were firmer. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.5% at $44.69 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.3% higher at $47.12.

Investors digested data released earlier showing that Japan’s economy hardly grew in the April to June quarter, weighed by exports and business investment.

The economy grew 0.2% on an annualised basis, down from 2% in the first three months of the year and missing expectations of 0.7% growth. Meanwhile, private consumption nudged up just 0.2%, down from 0.6% growth the quarter before.

Markus Huber, a trader at City of London Markets, said: “Whilst the latest Japanese economic growth data have failed to meet expectations not everybody is viewing this necessarily as massively negative instead it appears rather likely that the government will take additional steps to boost growth rather sooner than later.

“Fairly typical for a Monday there is only a very limited amount of economic data scheduled to be released. Overall sentiment remains positive with traders still seeing more room to the upside, although volume is likely to be below average partially due to some countries celebrating Assumption Day.”

In corporate news, Swedish retailer H&M rose after it said sales in July increased 10%.

Belgian pharmaceuticals company UCB surged after a US court confirmed the validity of a patent related to its Vimpat epilepsy drug.

William Hill was a little weaker after rejecting an improved cash-and-shares offer from Rank Group and 888 Holdings received over the weekend.

Bovis Homes was sharply lower despite posting growth in profit and revenue for the first half, as it said it was too early to gauge the impact of Brexit.

FTSE 250 security firm G4S rallied after saying that Tim Weller will succeed Himanshu Raja as chief financial officer of G4S after Raja retires from the board and steps down from the role on 1 October. Weller will join the company from oilfield services group Petrofac, where he held the same role.

Entertainment One surged amid reports that ITV was planning to raise its bid for the company as it emerged that private equity firm KKR is considering making an offer.

Software firm Sage was under pressure after saying an internal login had been used to gain unauthorised access to some of its British customers’ data.

Still to come in the US, the Empire State manufacturing survey is at 1330 BST and the NAHB housing market index is at 1500 BST.