Europe open: Stocks nudge lower as investors digest China data

European stocks nudged lower in early trade as investors digested some key data releases out of China and looked ahead to this weekend’s meeting of oil producers in Doha.

At 0835 BST, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was down 0.1%, Germany’s DAX was off 0.4% and France’s CAC 40 was down 0.2%.

At the same time, oil prices popped just a touch higher as this weekend’s summit in Doha edged closer. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.3% to $41.63 a barrel while Brent crude was 0.1% higher at $43.90.

On Thursday, the International Energy Agency said the global oil glut was set to ease by the end of this year. It also said that any potential agreement to freeze output at the Doha meeting would have only a limited impact on supplies.

Stocks in Asia reacted in a pretty muted fashion to data showing China’s economy grew 6.7% on the year in the first quarter compared with 6.8% in the fourth quarter of last year.

Although this marked the slowest quarterly growth in seven years, it was in line with both economists’ expectations and the country’s own targets. The government’s growth range is 6.5% to 7%.

For 2015 as a whole, growth came in at 6.9%.

Meanwhile, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed industrial output in the world’s second-largest economy rose 6.8% in March from the year before and compared with 5.4% growth in January to February. Economists had been expecting a 5.9% increase.

On the month, industrial production was up 0.6% from February compared with 0.4% growth the month before.

Retail sales increased 10.5% in March from a year earlier compared with 10.2% growth in January to February, just a touch above economists’ expectations of 10.4%.

“Whilst the Chinese data released today certainly constitutes more much needed good news for the global economy it doesn't necessarily come as a major surprise as plenty of data released over the past few weeks already have indicated that the Chinese economy has turned the corner,” said Markus Huber, a trader with broker City of London Markets.

David Morrison, senior market strategist at SpreadCo, said: “Overall there’s a slight negative bias but this could be no more than a touch of position-squaring after this week’s rally and ahead of the weekend. Investors are well aware of Sunday’s meeting in Doha between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to discuss a freeze on crude output. Equity movements have a strong positive correlation to the oil price so we may see some profit-taking now given uncertainty ahead of the meeting.”

In corporate news, Rio Tinto nudged higher after announcing the extension of its Channar Mining joint venture with Sinosteel Corporation in Australia’s Pilbara region.

Supermarket operator Carrefour pushed higher as its first quarter sales came in marginally ahead of expectations.

Man Group rallied after its first quarter update revealed positive net inflows and a good performance at its AHL unit.