Europe midday: Stoxx slips into red after German survey data

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.14% to 516.98 with most major European bourses following suit. France's CAC 40 was 0.55% lower to 7,628 points ahead of the first round of national elections on Sunday with polling showing far-right parties leading a leftist alliance and President Emmanuel Macron's centrists.

In economic news, a closely followed gauge of consumer sentiment in Germany unexpectedly fell further into negative territory, declining for the first time in five months.

The GfK's forward-looking Consumer Confidence Survey for July fell to -21.8 from a downwardly revised -21.0 the month before, missing economists' estimates for an improvement to -18.9.

"This morning has seen a focus on the German economy, which continues to flash warning signals after the Gfk consumer climate figure posted its first decline in five-months. Coming in the wake of disappointing Ifo, manufacturing, and service PMI surveys, we are seeing expectations for a July rate cut gradually grow (currently 36%)," said Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony.

In equity news, shares in Volkswagen Group fell back after a surge on Tuesday as the auto manufacturer said it would invest up to $5bn in US electric-vehicle maker Rivian as part of a new joint venture.

Anglo American shares rose despite its De Beers diamond unit reporting another dip in sales as it warned of a “protracted” recovery in demand.

In what is generally a quieter period for rough diamond sales, De Beers’ fifth sales cycle generated $315m, down from $383m in the fourth cycle and $446m in the third. However, this was also down from $456m in the fifth cycle of 2023.

Liontrust Asset Management fell 2.5% after reporting a 23% drop in annual profit and net outflows of £6.1bn.

Royal Mail owner IDS gained as EP Group, owned by the billionaire Daniel Kretinksy, published its formal takeover offer.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com