Europe open: Stocks mixed but Wirecard surges

European stocks were mixed in a tight range in early trade on Monday as investors paused for breath following gains at the end of last week on the back of a solid US non-farm payrolls report.

At 1010 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 and Germany's DAX were up 0.1% at 359.86 and 11,194.52, respectively, while France's CAC 40 was down 0.2% to 5,011.53.

Trade relations between the US and China remained in focus after US President Trump said in an interview with CBS that he sees a "good chance" of reaching a trade deal with China and making progress with North Korea on nuclear disarmament.

"It looks like we're doing very well with making a deal with China. I can tell you this, no two leaders of this country and China have ever been closer than I am with President Xi. We have a good chance to make a deal," Trump said.

"I don't know that we're going to make one, but we have a good chance. And if it is a deal it's going to be a real deal. It's not going to be a stopgap."

In corporate news, Julius Baer was under the cosh as the Swiss investment bank's adjusted net profit for the second half came in around 6% below consensus expectations and it announced a new cost-cutting programme.

Ryanair flew lower as the budget airline said it swung to a €20m loss in the last three months of 2018 from a €105.6m profit in the same period a year ago due to weaker-than-expected fares and higher oil prices.

Shares in German internet technology and financial services provider Wirecard surged 11% after it said a law firm it appointed found no evidence of any misconduct of an employee after the Financial Times alleged wrongdoing at its Singapore office.

On the data front, the headline Sentix investor sentiment index for the eurozone fell to -3.7 in February from -1.5 in January, missing consensus expectations for a reading of -1.3.

Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "A poor headline, but the details were slightly better. The main hit came from a sharp fall in the current situation index, while the expectations index increased slightly, to -17.3 from -19.3 in January. This divergence usually is a bullish signal in this survey, and the rebound in expectations also is consistent with the recovery in equity markets at the start of the year.

"Overall, the level of sentiment remains depressed, consistent with severe headwinds for risk assets. That said, we are cautiously optimistic that it will rebound further in coming months."