Europe midday: Stocks rise as markets shrug off Israel conflict, weak data

(Sharecast News) - Stock markets across Europe were putting in a decent performance on Monday morning as investors shrugged off geopolitical uncertainty in Israel and weak economic data to hunt for bargains in the wake of a recent sell-off. The Stoxx 600 was up 0.6% in morning trade, with gains of around 0.5% to 0.8% seen across London, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan, while Madrid's Ibex 35 jumped 1.1%.

The pan-European index has lost 4.6% over the past two weeks, falling in seven out of the ten trading sessions, finishing at a low of 429.58 on Friday, its lowest level since early January.

Conflict in Israel escalated over the weekend after government forces made a large-scale ground assault on Gaza, drawing condemnation from neighbouring countries. However, reports of military action being more cautious than initially predicted may have tempered the market's reaction to the news on Monday.

Oil prices were falling, pulling back after their recent march higher, with Brent down 1.5% at $87.88 a barrel.

"For now markets appear to be looking beyond the reports on the view that the conflict looks likely to remain contained," said analyst James Harte of Tickmill Group. "Although this view is keeping oil prices lower for now, the situation remains highly volatile and any sign of the conflict spilling over into a wider Middle East conflict should see oil prices firmly bid."

In European economic data, business and consumer sentiment about the economy fell slightly in the Eurozone this month, according to statistics released by the European Commission. The closely watched Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell by 0.1 points to 93.3 for October, from a revised 93.4 in September. This was in line with the consensus estimate but still marked the sixth straight monthly fall in the ESI.

The German economy shrunk less-than-expected 0.1% in the third quarter, figures from the federal statistics office Destatis revealed, after a revised 0.1% expansion in the second quarter. The consensus forecast was for a contraction of 0.3%.

In London, Airtel Africa was the best performer after the telecoms group reported its total customer base jumped 9.7% to 147.7 million customers in the first half.

After an initial rise, shares in HSBC were lower despite the banking giant reporting a better-than-expected pre-tax profit of $7.7bn in the third quarter, more than double the $3.3bn reported the year before. Revenue was up 40% at $16.2bn, helped by the higher interest-rate environment.

Siemens Energy was rising strongly in Frankfurt as the stock attempted to rebound from record lows seen last week after it was reported that it was in discussions with the government over €15bn in guarantees to help realise certain large industrial projects. Talks continued over the weekend, according to a Reuters report.

Electrolux shares were also attempting a recovery after dropping to their lowest since 2012 following worse-than-expected quarterly results from the electrical consumer products manufacturer on Friday.