Europe open: Shares flat after muted start as ex-divs drag on Stoxx

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was flat in morning trade with regional bourses mixed.

In the UK, data released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed the economy grew by 4.8% between April and June as lockdown restrictions eased, in line with expectations.

This was close to the 5% growth predicted by the Bank of England last week and left the economy 4.4% below its pre-pandemic peak.

In equity news, UK insurer Aviva rose 2.1% after the company said it would return at least £4bn to shareholders. Zurich Insurance Group gained after reporting a 60% jump in first-half business operating profit.

Dutch insurer Aegon topped the benchmark index with a rise of 5.6% on posting a much better than expected second-quarter earnings.

Holiday company TUI rallied as it revealed a sharp jump in summer holiday bookings.

Dragging down miners, UK-listed shares of global miner Rio Tinto tumbled 6.1% on trading ex-dividend.

Shares in Cineworld rose 7.2% after it said it was considering a listing of itself or a partial listing of its movie chain Regal on Wall Street and reported an encouraging start to post-Covid-lockdown trading.

Stock Spirits Group jumped 42.5% as funds affiliated with private-equity firm CVC agreed to take over the London-listed vodka maker in a deal valuing it at £767m.