Europe open: Stocks see slightly higher start, but analysts cautious

Stock indices across the Continent have gotten off to a subdued start with traders wary of pushing their luck going into the weekend and next week's G-20 leaders' summit in Osaka, Japan.

Overnight, the US S&P 500 notched up a fresh record high and in Asia stocks were heading towards their best week since January, but various analysts could be heard openly questioning the staying power of recent gains in stock markets.

"In spite of all of this exuberance it should be noted that the US Russell 2000 has been unable to get remotely close to the record levels of last year, which would appear to suggest that this risk rally is more selective than most, with investors focusing more on the bigger cap stocks," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

As of 0805 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was ahead by 0.14% to 386.70, alongside a gain of 0.36% to 21,438.49 for the FTSE Mibtel and an advance of 0.18% to 5,545.88 on the Cac-40.

To take note of, Friday was set to be quadruple witching day on Wall Street, with futures and options for individual stocks and indices all set to expire.

Technology was one of the weaker segments of the market, with the Stoxx 600's technology sub-index down by 0.21% to 88.68 after chip maker IQE said it was "operating in an increasingly cautious marketplace".

In anticipation of a weak second half, the company cut its full-year sales forecast to between £140.0-160.0m (consensus: £175.0m) and with managament saying it had "recently received a reduction in forecasts from a number of chip customers, in Wireless and also in Photonics."

Also weighing on sentiment were reports that overnight the US administration had initially approved air strikes against targets in Iran but later opted not to carry through on those plans, leaving open the question of whether they might be revived.

On the economic front, factory and services sector activity in France picked up in June, with IHS Markit's gauge for both rising from a reading of 51.2 for May to 52.9 in June.

Elsewhere, Italian deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, threatened on Friday to leave the government unless he was able to clinch tax cuts worth €10.0bn, Corriere della Sera reported.

At 0900 BST, IHS Markit was scheduled to release preliminary readings for its euro area manufacturing and services sector Purchasing Managers' Indices in June.

Later in the session, at 1500 BST, the US National Association of Realtors would publish existing home sales figures for May.