European stock little changed as automaker gains offset miners

Frankfurt - European shares were little changed after posting a weekly increase, with gains in car makers and energy producers offsetting declines in miners.  

Volkswagen led a gauge of automakers in a rebound from Friday’s decline to post the best performance of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

Tullow Oil led oil stocks higher as crude extended its advance above $44 a barrel amid speculation that producers will revive talks to stabilize prices. Glencore dragged commodity producers lower.

The Stoxx 600 added 0.1% to 346.38 at 8:13 a.m. in London. Better-than-forecast financial results from companies including Zurich Insurance Group and KBC Group helped the measure post a 1.4% gain last week as it finally recovered its pre-Brexit level.

Disappointing US retail-sales data tempered progress on Friday. The volume of shares trading hands today was 60% lower than the 30-day average.

Investors have also been watching European economic figures for indications of the region’s health. Data have topped projections in recent weeks, with reports last week showing gross domestic product grew 0.3% in the second quarter, as forecast, while Germany’s economy expanded 0.4%, twice as fast as estimated.

Still, scepticism about the efficacy of central-bank stimulus has sent the Stoxx 600 down 5.3% in 2016, and investors are underweight on the region’s shares for the first time in three years, according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey last month.

The recent bounce has pushed the index’s valuation to 15.2 times estimated profits, near this year’s high.

Among stocks moving on corporate news today, Hennes & Mauritz advanced 1.9% after reporting a better-than-expected 10% increase in July sales. UCB jumped 7.5% after winning a US court ruling confirming the validity of its Vimpat patent.

G4S climbed 2.2% after the company announced Tim Weller will succeed Himanshu Raja as chief financial officer when Raja retires from the Board and steps down on October 1.

Sage Group fell 4.1% after the Financial Times reported the company is investigating unauthorized access to customer information using an internal login, which may affect 300 users.