Europe open: Flat start as investors continue to eye political risk

European stocks began Tuesday little changed ahead of the release of key eurozone manufacturing and service sector surveys and several speeches from US central bank officials later in the day.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 equity benchmark was off by 0.11% or 0.42 points at 370.62, as Germany´s Dax slipped 0.06% or 6.89 points to 11,821.96 and the CAC-40 edged higher by 0.00% or 0.13 points to 4,865.22.

Investors were still wary of political uncertainties, despite a deal reached overnight by Eurozone finance ministers to restart negotiations with Greece on its second bailout review the following week.

"Calls for a flat open come after a mixed day in Asia, echoing Europe’s close yesterday with no lead from the US on account of the President's day holiday. Politics still to the fore as polls suggest (National Front leader Marine) Le Pen closing the gap on rivals just two months before the first round of the French election. Note Greece has also missed yet another bailout deadline as creditors maintain demands on reforms," said Mike Van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets.

The spread between 10-year German and French government debt was at its widest level since 2012.

In terms of economic data, French service sector activity bounded ahead in February, with the corresponding IHS Markit PMI printing at 56.7 for February, versus a reading of 54.0 for January (consensus: 53.8).

A comparable PMI for French manufacturing on the other hand declined from 53.6 in January to 52.3 for February.

IHS Markit´s euro area manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index was scheduled for release at 09:00 GMT. Three US Federal Reserve policymakers were scheduled to speak later on Tuesday, including Neil Kashkaari (Minneapolis Fed), Patrick Harker (Philly Fed) and John Williams (San Francisco Fed).

The cost of living in France advanced at a 1.3% year-on-year clip in January, versus a rise of 0.6% in the month before, but nevertheless came in shy of forecasts (consensus: 1.4%) despite strong gains in both food and energy prices.

On the corporate front, HSBC, Europe´s largest lender, missed analysts' fourth quarter profit estimates as both revenues and operating costs came in below forecasts. Adjusted pre-tax profits jumped 39% to reach $2.62bn (consensus: $3.78bn) as adjusted revenues slipped 3% to $11bn (consensus: $12.4bn). Operating costs grew 3% to $8.4bn (consensus: $8.3bn).

BHP Billiton, the Australia-focused miner saw interim underlying profits jump to $3.24bn (consensus: $2.94bn).

Analysts at JP Morgan upped their recommendation on Dialog Semiconductor to 'overweight' from 'underweight'.