Europe midday: Stocks gain after G-20 agrees to fight against trade protectionism

As of 1203 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was higher by 0.31% or 1.16 points to 381.34, alongside a gain of 0.43% or 52.94 points in the German Dax to 12,441.38 and an advance of 0.63% or 132.59 points for the FTSE Mibtel.

After two days off meetings in Hamburg, Germany the leaders of the 20 most developed economies in the planet reached an agreement to fight trade protectionism (while noting America's concerns about unfair trade practices).

On a related note, Unicredit's Erik F.Nielsen inked a note to clients saying that, contrary to 'common wisdom', globalisation was not in reverse.

To back up his argument, Nielsen pointed to the recent free trade deal between Japan and the European Union and how global trade was now reaching 'normal' growth rates, expanding by roughly 4.0%.

Also over the weekend, in remarks to Bloomberg TV French central bank president Villeroy de Galhau appeared to hint that the ECB's stance was indeed shifting, even if very gradually.

"What we have to do, and what we started to do, is to adapt the intensity of this accommodative monetary policy to the progress toward our inflation target and toward economic recovery.

"In the future, and this will be our decision next fall, we will go on adapting the intensity of this monetary policy," he said.

Meanwhile, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Bund was off by four basis points at 0.54%.

That came as analysts at Citi said that yields should stay low "for the foreseeable future", setting a tactical target for the 10-year bund yield of 0.7%, adding that above 0.62% bunds began becoming "cheap".

"With the move that we have seen in recent days we are getting close to levels that should provide support.2

Germany's seasonally adjusted trade surplus hit €20.3bn in May, which was up from the €19.7bn hit in April (consensus: €18.4bn).

Commenting on the data, economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the country's trade surplus was likely to fall in 2017 due to weaker demand from the UK, although it would continue to buoy the large current account surplus which stood at roughly 8% of GDP.

At the weekend, France's central bank forecast GDP growth would reach 1.4% in 2017, followed by an annual pace of expansion of 1.6% over the following two years.

EdF may have to close 17 of its 58 nuclear reactors in order for the government in Paris to meet its goal of cutting nuclear power's contribution to the country's electricity output to 50% by 2025, Ecology minister Nicolas Hulot told RTL Radio.

Deutsche Bank continued to progress with the initial public offering of its asset management unit, according to a recent memo staff, Reuters reported.

France's ADP picked up another 8.12% of TAV Airports, taking its stake in the firm to 46.12%.

AS Roma said on Sunday it sold Antonio Rudiger to Chelsea for €35.0m along with an extra of as much as €4.0m tied to his performance.