Europe midday: Shares eke out gains; UK housebuilders knocked by downgrade

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.20 with most major bourses mixed. There was little corporate news to drive sentiment US markets are closed for the for the Independence Day holiday.

China said that from next month, special licenses will be needed to export gallium and germanium. The country is the world's biggest producer of the metals.

‘’Just when the battle to tame inflation appears to be working, a fresh skirmish in the trade war between the US and China, threatens to snarl up supply chains, potentially pushing up prices,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

“China’s move to restrict exports of some rare earth metals, used in highly sought-after products such as semi-conductors, appears to be a tit-for-tat move, in response to US curbs on the sales of chips which are in high demand for AI capabilities.”

“Coming just days before Janet Yellen, the US Treasury Secretary is due to visit Beijing, the policy is likely to have been designed to put pressure on the US to release its current export bans and drop further curbs which are expected.”

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia left its benchmark cash rate unchanged at 4.1% as it waited to assess the impact of recent rate rises to quell inflation.

Germany’s trade surplus missed expectations, falling to €14.4bn in May, from a revised €16.5bn and well below the consensus of €17.5bn, according to official data published on Tuesday.

In equity news, UK supermarket Sainsbury’s fell as it held guidance after a 9.8% rise in underlying sales.

Housebuilders were also under the cosh on the back of a downbeat note by JPMorgan Cazenove, which reiterated its cautious stance on the sector, arguing that valuations are still above October 2022 levels and that it sees "incremental downside risks to estimates".

The bank downgraded Persimmon to ‘neutral’ and placed Taylor Wimpey and Vistry on ‘negative catalyst watch’.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com