Europe midday: Stocks in the red as investors digest uninspiring China data

European stocks fell on Tuesday as investors mulled over uninspiring trade figures from China and an in-line reading on Eurozone growth.

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.9%, France’s CAC 40 was 0.8% weaker and Germany’s DAX was down 1.3%.

Investors digested Chinese trade figures, which revealed an ongoing weak performance.

Exports fell 6.8%, their fifth straight month of decline and a sharper drop than expected, while imports were down 8.7%, which wasn’t quite as bad as expected.

The overall trade surplus came in at 343 billion yuan or $53bn.

“Chinese export numbers fell sharply to post -6.8% instead of the -5% that was expected. This has spooked the market a little but nowhere near as much as negative China data would have done prior to us being a little more certain about the Fed’s next decision,” said James Hughes, chief market analyst at GKFX.

A little closer to home, figures from Eurostat showed gross domestic product in the Eurozone grew 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the three months to November, in line with analysts’ expectations.

In corporate news, miner Anglo American tumbled after saying it will suspend its dividend to investors this year and the next as it announced a portfolio restructuring and further material costs savings and capex reductions to combat declining commodity prices.

Rio Tinto was also under the cosh after saying 2016 group capital expenditure will be $1bn (£660m) less than forecast at $5bn (£3.3bn) as its cost-cutting regime continues.

French advertising company Publicis slid, with traders pointing to a Financial Times report that it has lost some US accounts with Procter & Gamble.

On the upside, French conglomerate Bouygues rallied following a media report that Orange is in talks to buy some of its assets.

In London, supermarket retailers rallied on the back of broker notes, with Sainsbury upgraded to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ by Stifel and Morrison lifted to ‘hold’ from ‘reduce’ by HSBC.

Air France-KLM was in the black after it said the Paris terror attacks cost it €50m in lost revenue in November.

Still to come on the macroeconomic front, US job openings and labour turnover figures for October are due at 1500 GMT.