Europe open: Stocks nudge higher as investors continue to mull payrolls

European stocks nudged higher in early trade as investors continued to mull over the implications of Friday’s disappointing nonfarm payrolls report.

At 0850 BST, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.1%, Germany’s DAX was 0.3% higher and France’s CAC 40 was up 0.2%.

At the same time, oil prices were a touch higher. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.1% to $44.47 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.3% firmer at $46.97.

Rebecca O’Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “European equity markets are still benefitting from the euphoria of Friday's worse than expected US employment numbers.

“With investors concluding that the risk of a September rate rise has diminished significantly, equities remain the favoured asset class for the moment.”

In corporate news, Zodiac Aerospace was under the cosh after a profit warning, while Hugo Boss slumped as UBS downgraded the stock to ‘sell’.

Altice was in the red after the telecoms group made an offer for the outstanding 22.25% shares of SFR it does not already own.

GlaxoSmitKline nudged up after tests of one of its respiratory drugs found a statistically significant reduction in the rate of attacks suffered by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients compared to when they receive the standard treatment.

The pioneering Salford Lung Study into the effectiveness and safety of GSK's drug also showed a similar improvement against patients who were taking a medicine in the same class as Relvar Ellipta.

Retailer Marks & Spencer was in the black following news over the weekend that it plans to cut 500 jobs at its head office this week.

On the data front, investors will eye the release of the eurozone services purchasing managers’ index at 0900 BST while retail sales for the bloc are at 1000 BST.

US markets will be closed on Monday for the Labour Day holiday.