Europe open: Stocks nudge higher as investors eye GDP, inflation figures

European stocks nudged higher in early trade as investors looked to the release of some key eurozone data and continued to assess US President Donald Trump’s latest policy decisions.

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

Andy McLevey, head of dealing at Interactive Investors, said: “European markets opened relative flat in early trading before nudging tentatively higher as investors take a deep breath following yesterday's global selloff. Caution remains the watchword however ahead of a raft of economic data later today with central banks taking stage later in the week set amid a backdrop of political tension it's not surprising many investors are adopting a wait and see policy.”

The first reading of eurozone fourth-quarter gross domestic product and inflation figures for the bloc are due at 1000 GMT.

In Asia, the Bank of Japan stood pat on interest rates at -0.1%, as widely expected, and maintained the bank's target of raising the amount of outstanding Japan government bond holdings at an annual pace of about JPY80 trillion. The BoJ lifted its forecasts for the economy but left its forecasts for inflation unchanged.

On the corporate front, Deutsche Bank was in the back despite being slapped with a £163m fine by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority for failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering controls. The FCA said that as a result of its inadequate AML control framework, Deutsche was used by unidentified customers to transfer around $10bn, of unknown origin, from Russia to offshore bank accounts in a manner that is “highly suggestive of financial crime”, between January 2012 and December 2015.

Swedish retailer H&M was in the black as its pre-tax profit for the fourth quarter beats analysts’ expectations.

Online supermarket Ocado was a high riser as it reported a rise in full-year core earnings and revenue, although there was no news on a long-awaited international deal, while drinks company Britvic also advanced as it reported growth in first-quarter revenue and said it was confident it will meet market expectations for the full year.

Irish convenience food group Greencore gained ground as it posted 17% growth on the year in group revenue for the 13 weeks to 30 December to £417m.

Givaudan was weaker as its net profit for 2016 and its dividend fell short of expectations, while Finnish pulp and paper maker UPM-Kymmene tumbled on the back of a cautious outlook for this year.

UniCredit was on the back foot after the Italian lender said it expects a net loss of about €11.8bn for full-year 2016.