Europe midday: Stoxx down as weak China data hits sentiment, Burberry shares

(Sharecast News) - European shares were lower on Monday, as traders analysed the impact of the attempted assassination of US presidential candidate Donald Trump on markets, along with weak China GDP data, while Burberry shares tanked after the luxury goods seller ousted its CEO and issued a profit warning. The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index was down 0.27% to 522.64 in early deals after a string showing last week, with all major Continental bourses lower.

Data released earlier by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that second-quarter growth slowed to 4.7% year-on-year from 5.3% in the first quarter, missing expectations of 5.1% growth.

ING said "weak consumption and property continued to be a drag on growth" and added that more policy support will be needed in order to achieve this year's 5% growth target.

House prices were 4.5% lower than last year in June, worsening from the 3.9% drop in May, registering the 12th consecutive decline and the steepest decrease since June 2015.

Annual retail sales growth slowed to 2.0% from 3.7%, missing the 3.3% estimate, reflecting continued weak domestic demand.

Industrial production growth eased to 5.3% year-on-year from 5.6%, while fixed asset investment growth slipped to 3.9% from 4.0%.

Meanwhile, in the eurozone, Industrial production in the eurozone fell for the first time in four months in May, according to data from Eurostat on Monday, though the decline wasn't as bad as economists had feared.

Seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased by 0.6% in May, following a revised estimate showing no change the month before, changed from the initial reading of -0.1%.

This was the first monthly drop in production since January, but not as severe as the 1.0% decline expected.

In equity news, shares in online grocer and tech company Ocado slumped as broker Bernstein downgraded the stock to 'underperform'.

British luxury group Burberry fell more than 16.5% after it ousted its CEO, issued a profit warning and scrapped its dividend, while Swatch was also down sharply as the Swiss watchmaker's first half sales and operating profit fell due to weak China demand.

BP was lower after a rating cut to 'equalweight' by Morgan Stanley.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com