Europe midday: Stocks edge higher on the last day of the month

Stocks on the Continent are edging higher on the last day of the month and ahead of the release of a barrage of economic data Stateside due out in under a half hour's time.

As of 1439 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was down by 0.21% or 0.75 points at 381.61, alongside a 0.07% or 8.61 point fall to 12,481.30 for the German Dax, while the Cac-40 was flat at 5,343.97.

Meanwhile, out on the euro area periphery, the Ibex 35 was retreating by 0.45% or 46.30 points to 9,853.90, but the FTSE Mibtel was adding 0.02% or 6.20 points to 22,730.66.

Over in FX markets, euro/dollar was slipping 0.15% to 1.2215 while the yield on the benchmark 10 year Bund was down by two basis point at 0.66%.

Acting as a backdrop, in testimony before US lawmakers on Tuesday evening, US central bank chief Jerome Powell appeared to leave the door open to a slight acceleration in the pace of rate cuts if economic conditions warranted such a move, according to many economists.

On the economic front, earlier Eurostat reported that the rate of inflation within the single currency bloc had slowed from a 1.2% pace year-on-year for January to 1.1% in February.

At the 'core' level, CPI was flat at up 1.0% year-on-year.

That followed a weaker than expected reading on German CPI the day before which prompted Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK to say: "German inflation on the other hand remains stubbornly low, and is declining, despite an unemployment rate at a record low of 5.4%, and a recent wage settlement of over 4% for IG Metall workers."

In parallel, it was reported that the number of jobless in Germany declined by 22,000 in February, close on the heels of a 24,000 person fall in the month before (consensus: 15,000).

Going the other way, GfK's measure of consumer confidence in the Eurozone's largest economy fell back from a reading of 11.0 for February to a print of 10.0 (consensus: 10.8).

Hogging the headlines in the corporate space, German chemicals giant Bayer posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of €1.78bn, a shade less than the consensus forecast.

Elsewhere, according to Il Sole 24 Ore Italy's Leonardo was in talks with Qatar to sell the Kingdom 22 Nh90 military helicopters.