Europe midday: Stocks start March on front foot buoyed by trade hopes, China data

Investors are pushing markets higher at the end of the week on the back of optimistic reports regarding the prospects for a US-China trade deal and much stronger-than-expected data out Asia's largest economy.

"Stocks market are rallying this morning as renewed hopes about a US-China trade deal, and the possibility of additional targeted liquidity from the European Central Bank (ECB) has lifted investment sentiment," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

The latest batch of euro area data was also broadly supportive of risk appetite, with Eurozone core CPI printing below forecasts, alongside a better than expected reading on joblessness in Germany.

Against that backdrop, as of 1430 GMT, the benchmark pan-European Stoxx 600 was up by 0.64% to 375.17, alongside a 1.31% jump to 11,666.86 for the German Dax and an advance of 0.53% to 20,768.29 on the FTSE Mibtel.

Among the best performers on the Stoxx 600 by sectors, Chemicals were running up by 1.4% to 905.20.

In parallel, front month Brent crude oil futures were ahead by 0.121% to $66.35 a barrel and euro/dollar was higher by 0.21% to 1.13985.

Overnight, citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that officials in Washington were preparing a final trade deal that the US and Chinese leaders could sign in weeks, although there was apparently an ongoing debate on Capitol Hill as to whether the Trump administration should push for more.

Triggering further buying, Caixin's factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index for February shot-up to 49.9 (consensus: 48.5) from January's level of 48.3.

In economic news, Eurostat reported a slight pick-up in the year-on-year rate of consumer price gains in the single currency bloc, from January's level of 1.4% to 1.5%.

At the 'core' level on the other, CPI slipped from 1.1% to 1.0%.

German unemployment meanwhile was reported at down by 21,000 for February (consensus: -5,000) when compared to the month before.

A separate report from Eurostat meanwhile revealed that unemployment at the Eurozone level was unchanged from the previous month's downwardly revised rate of 7.8% in January (consensus: 7.9%).