BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks were narrowly mixed in cautious trade on Tuesday as investors eyed Brexit talks and coronavirus stimulus developments in the U.S. Congress.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels this week to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a last ditch effort to salvage Brexit talks.
According to media reports, significant differences remain over fishing rights, rules for fair trade and an enforcement mechanism for regulatory standards.
The U.S. Congress is expected to vote this week on a one-week stopgap funding bill to give negotiators more time to strike a compromise.
The European Central Bank holds its latest policy-setting meeting on Thursday after flagging more emergency bond buying and cheap liquidity for banks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was marginally higher at 393.11 after declining 0.3 percent in the previous session.
The German DAX traded flat with a positive bias, while France's CAC 40 index was marginally lower and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent.
Swiss drug maker Roche Group fell over 1 percent. The company announced that new data on its investigational T-cell engaging bispecific antibody portfolio is showing encouraging activity across multiple types of blood cancer.
Mining company KAZ Minerals dropped 1.4 percent. The company said its full year copper and gold production would be at the top end of their respective guidance ranges of 280-300 kt and 180-200 koz.
Ashtead Group rallied 3.5 percent. The industrial equipment rental company raised its full-year outlook after posting better-than-expected half-year results.
Euromoney Institutional Investor, a B2B information services provider, rose about 1 percent after it announced the acquisition of WealthEngine, Inc. for $14.5 million.
Plumbing and heating parts distributor Ferguson advanced 1.3 percent after reporting a 12 percent rise in first-quarter profit.
Hella shares surged as much as 7.3 percent. The automotive part supplier reported that its preliminary the currency-and portfolio-adjusted sales for the second quarter increased by 4.4 percent to about 1.8 billion euros from last year.
In economic releases, U.K. retail sales increased in November despite the national lockdown, the British Retail Consortium reported. Like-for-like retail sales grew 7.7 percent on a yearly basis in November driven by food and grocery sales.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive at BRC, said the disparity between online and in-store non-food sales widened, with the highest online penetration rate since May.
French payroll employment increased in the third quarter as the relaxation of the coronavirus containment measures underpinned economic activity and job creation, final data from the statistical office Insee showed.
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