Europe midday: Stocks sink on oil, Brexit concerns

Profit-taking weighed on European shares on Tuesday, with some analysts pointing to the risk that heightened concerns about Brexit might add to the already uncertain market backdrop and as oil prices retreated from their surge on the previous day

At midday, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.27%, Germany's DAX was 0.79% lower and France's CAC 40 dipped 0.34%.

In London, the FTSE 100 slipped 0.66%, though a battered sterling reversed its downward slide as Brexit talk continued, with the bosses of just 36 firms on the index signing David Cameron's pro-EU letter. It was last at $1.4109, 0.29% stronger.

"There is an awful lot of political uncertainty, and that's taking its toll on the pound. If you get together all the leading economists, they still probably couldn't tell you what the UK's political and economic landscape would look like [if Britain left the EU]," Rabobank market strategist Jane Foley told Sky News.

Oil prices were mixed after a poor Tuesday in Asian trading. West Texas Intermediate was last down 0.39% to $33.26 per barrel, while Brent crude was up 0.29% to $34.79, and .

That saw the Stoxx 600 oil and gas index lose 0.58%, slipping back against the gains made on Monday.

The situation somewhat echoed the rush to safe harbours seen earlier in the year. Accendo Markets head of research Mike van Dulken noted: "The global risk rally continued to lose momentum overnight after another pullback by oil and industrial commodities, while the Chinese weakened the yuan to its lowest in six weeks and the Japanese yen and gold rose on renewed safe haven seeking."

Overnight, the People´s Bank of China set a 0.17% weaker fix for the Chinese yuan, the largest decrease since 7 January.

On the corporate front, Standard Chartered shares plummeted after the bank reported a £1bn loss, blaming the situation in Asia in 2015 and restructuring costs for the dip below the red line.

House builder Persimmon was ahead after posting a 34% increase in underlying profit before tax off a 13% rise in revenue. It was four years into its nine-and-a-half year long-term plan, with performance significantly ahead of initial expectations.

BHP Billiton was down in London after slashing its dividend deeper than most analysts predicted, and adopting a new, more cautious payout policy as it prepared for what it believed would be a prolonged period of low, volatile commodities markets.

Lender Provident Financial was up after posting a 21.8% rise in pre-tax profit, following a strong performance from Vanquis Bank, which delivered record new customer bookings of 433,000 during the year.

French food behemoth Danone was also up after it posted a rise in 2015 profit and forecast like-for-like sales growth of 3% to 5% this year.

In data, the German Ifo survey's business climate index came in at 105.7 versus forecasts for 106.7 and a previous reading of 107.3.

The current assessment index rose to 112.9 from 112.5 the previous month, beating expectations for a reading of 112.0.

Finally, the expectations index printed at 98.8 compared with expectations for 101.6 and 102.3 in January.

Figures released earlier by the Federal Statistics Office confirmed that Germany’s gross domestic product rose 0.3% in the fourth quarter, in line with the third quarter, the initial estimate and consensus.

In calendar-adjusted terms, GDP grew 1.3% in the year compared with 1.7% in the third quarter, while unadjusted GDP grew 2.1% on the year. For 2015 as a whole, GDP increased 1.7%.

Still to come on the macroeconomic calendar in the US, S&P Case-Shiller house prices are scheduled for release at 1400 GMT, while US consumer confidence and existing home sales are due out at 1500 GMT.