Europe open: Stocks waver as oil slips back

European stocks wavered in early trade following healthy gains in the previous session, as oil prices steadied after Monday’s rally.

At 0850 BST, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index and Germany’s DAX were flat, while France’s CAC 40 was 0.1% higher.

Meanwhile, oil prices were a little weaker after racking up strong gains on Monday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin told an energy congress in Turkey that the nation was ready to join OPEC in a proposed curb on production. West Texas Intermediate was down 0.5% at $51.10 a barrel and Brent crude was off 0.5% at $52.89.

Oanda’s Craig Erlam said: “Oil is currently trading a little lower today but is likely to remain volatile throughout the session. Comments from Vladimir Putin on Monday sparked some life into oil once again as he talked up the chances of a coordinated production freeze between Russia and OPEC, something the market needs if gains are going to be sustained. I’m sure we’ll continue to hear more on this in the coming weeks ahead of the OPEC meeting next month which should ensure oil remains quite volatile.

“The only notable data release today will be the ZEW economic sentiment surveys from Germany and the eurozone, both of which are expected to marginally improve again but remain below pre-Brexit levels. While the hard data currently suggests the Brexit impact has been muted, confidence clearly remains fragile and expectations are that it’s a matter of when the numbers turn bad rather than if.”

The ZEW surveys are due out at 1000 BST.

In currency markets, the pound was down 0.6% to $1.2290 as leaked Treasury documents suggested that leaving the single market could cost the UK £66bn a year in lost taxes.

Societe Generale strategist Kit Juckes said: “In real effective terms, sterling is 10% lower than it was in 1992 after leaving the ERM and is now weaker than it was after Lehman. Press comment is now shifting to embracing the positive effects of a weak pound and in due course that’ll be true but any further weakness from here might simply reflect loss of confidence and be bad for UK assets (gilts, equities, house prices, you name it...) in general.”

In corporate news, luxury goods company LVMH rallied after reporting a 4% jump in nine-month revenue on the back of strength in Asia and its perfume business.

BP edged higher after announcing that it is shelving its exploration drilling programme in the Great Australian Bight in order to channel capital into more profitable opportunities.