Europe open: Stocks dip on weak PMIs, ECB succession in focus

Stocks have begun the morning drifting lower, weighed down by a weaker close on Wall Street overnight as investors wait for the release of the minutes of the US central bank's last policy meeting for any signs that rate-setters in Washington might shift towards a more 'hawkish' stance.

Also weighing on sentiment, two key surveys of factory and service sector conditions in France and Germany for the month of February fell slightly short of the mark.

As of 0951 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was trading 0.38% or 1.46 points lower at 379.05, alongside a dip of 0.34% or 18.02 points to 5,371.85 on the Cac-40 and a retreat of 0.56% or 124.55 points to 22,549.01 on the FSTE Mibtel.

In Germany, IHS Markit's composite output index for the country's manufacturing and services sector slipped from a reading of 59.0 for January to 57.4 in February (consensus: 58.0) - a three month low.

It was a similar story in France, with the equivalent gauge retreating from 59.6 last month to 57.8 (consensus: 59.2).

Commenting on the German data, Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics highlighted how new orders subindices for both the factory and services sectors "fell noticeably compared to the brisk pace seen in the previous month", albeit adding that both remained "strong".

"Momentum in new export orders, for example, dipped to a 12-month low, indicating a 10% year-on-year appreciation of the euro is curbing external demand, at the margin," Vistesen said.

To take note of, according to Handelsblatt, German officials hoped that their support for Spanish finance minister Luis de Guindos to take up the vice-presidency at the European Central bank sets the stage for the Bundesbank's Jens Weidmann to become president when Mario Draghi's tenure expires.

Against that backdrop, the yield on the benchmark 10-year German bund was down four basis points at 0.70% while euro/dollar was down 0.15% to 1.2320.

For later in the day, investors were keen to see if the latest set of Fed minutes would validate expectations for a faster pace of policy tightening in the wake of the approval of the White House's tax cut plans.

Over in the corporate space, Volkswagen was in the headlines after reaching an agreement with the IG Metall union.

Deutsche Boerse was also in the headlines after posting a 26% jump in net profits for the three months to December.