Europe open: Shares edge higher ahead of US payrolls

European shares edged into positive territory on Friday as investors awaited US payrolls data later in the days.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was up 0.16% to 469.38 in early deals with most major bourses higher.

“The (jobs) data will help set the tone for next week’s Federal Reserve meeting, with growing hope that the US is ready to keep the pause button pressed on interest rate increases. A slowing jobs market would help cement this enthusiasm,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Sophie Lund-Yates.

In economic news, the final estimate of Germany's consumer price index (CPI) confirmed that inflation fell to its lowest in 29 months in November.

In line with the provisional estimates released last week, CPI rose by 3.2% year-on-year last month, down from 3.8% in October, after prices fell by 0.4% during the month, according to Germany's federal statistics office, Destatis.

This was the fifth consecutive month of falling annual inflation, with falling energy prices accounting for a large part of the slowdown, while price pressures on food have also eased.

Energy prices were down 4.5% year-on-year, after a 3.2% annual decline the month before, which mainly reflect elevated prices in 2022 on the back of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Food inflation meanwhile eased to 5.5% from 6.1%.

The core reading, which excludes the more volatile food and energy costs, stood at +3.8% in November, falling below the 4% mark for the first time since August 2022. Core inflation stood at 4.2% in October.

In equity news, Anglo American fell after unveiling plans to cut expenditure by another $500m next year amid a 4% cut in production.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com