Europe open: Shares crawl ahead on fishy Brexit talks, ECB stimulus hopes

European stocks opened slightly higher on Thursday as investors eyed the latest twist in Brexit trade deal negotiations and a European Central Bank meeting later in the day.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was up 0.10% with all major bourses opening higher. US futures were flat after losses overnight.

With Brexit talks stuck on the largely symbolic issue of fish, it was no surprise that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen served up turbot and scallops to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in another attempt to breach the impasse on a future trade deal.

The pair agreed to extend talks until Sunday and CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said the main obstacle to a deal was agreement on an arbitration process to deal with disputes on regulatory divergence.

“Yesterday German Chancellor Angela Merkel set out the EU’s red lines, saying that Brussels would accept a no deal outcome if the two sides could not figure out a way to overcome this key obstacle,” he said.

Investors were also watching the European Central Bank meeting to see if more stimulus would be provided to deal with the second wave of coronavirus lockdowns.

Analysts are expecting a €500bn increase to the ECB’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme.

In equity news shares in online food delivery group Ocado fell 4% after the company raise core earnings guidance, while home meal-kit supplier HelloFresh was the top gainer, with the shares up 5.48%.

Industrial and electronics products group Electrocomponents saw its shares rise after unveiling two acquisitions worth £150m and a £180m share placing.

Automotive retailer Inchcape said full-year profits would be “materially ahead” of expectations and was considering reinstating its dividend after a better-than-expected performance in November.

The company on Thursday said it expected pre-tax profit, excluding exceptionals, would be materially ahead of market consensus of £108m as the impact of the second UK Covid-19 lockdown was not as bad as first feared.