Europe open: Shares start lower with defence stocks in focus

European shares opened slightly lower on Monday after a strong performance last week, with little corporate or economic news to drive sentiment.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.05% at 511 in early trade.

Traders have their eyes on speeches by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the week.

In equity news, trading platform Plus500 lifted full-year results guidance and reported a 13% jump in new customers for the first half of the year.

Defence stocks were down amid reports that Germany intends to curtail military assistance to Ukraine due to fiscal constraints. Rheinmetall, Saab, Leonardo, BAE Systems and Thales all fell on the news.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com