Europe open: Stocks little changed as investors pause for breath

European stocks wavered in early trade as investors paused for breath following recent gains, at the end of a week jam-packed with policy decisions.

At 0900 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index and France’s CAC 40 were both up 0.2%, while Germany’s DAX was flat.

At the same time, oil prices slipped back a little, but were still on track for strong weekly gains. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.3% to $40.10 a barrel and Brent crude was off 0.4% to $41.38.

Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said this week’s central bank meeting have resulted “in gloomy views aplenty fuelling optimism of lower - even negative - rates for longer”.

The Federal Reserve’s dovish outlook on interest rates on Wednesday hit the greenback, helping dollar-denominated commodity stocks to advance. However, strength in the euro weighed on European stocks as it made the goods they export more expensive for holders of other currencies.

In corporate news, housebuilder Berkeley Group was in the red. Although the company said it expects full year results to be at the top end of expectations, it also announced a 4% drop in forward reservations in the three months to the end of February and questioned the government’s response to the housing crisis.

Shares in Italian insurer Generali slipped after its fourth quarter net profit missed analysts’ expectations.

On the upside, Telecom Italia pushed higher despite saying it swung to a net loss in 2015.

Data released by Destatis earlier showed German producer prices fell more than expected in February.

Producer prices dropped 0.5% from January, which was steeper than the 0.2% decline pencilled by economists, as energy prices slid 9.4% on the month.

On the year, producer prices were down 3%, missing expectations for a 2.6% drop.

Dennis de Jong, managing director at UFX.com, said: “With the price of goods continuing to decline, German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble will be concerned about what implications this will have on inflation within his European powerhouse.

“As Europe’s largest and strongest economy, Germany carries the can for much of the Eurozone, so this less-than-impressive data could have a knock-on effect that will send reverberations across the continent.

Still to come on the macroeconomic front, University of Michigan consumer sentiment is at 1400 GMT.