Europe midday: Stocks come off lows as euro strength ebbs

European stocks recouped some of their early losses following a weaker-than-expected reading on Italian inflation that robbed the euro of some of its strength.

As of 1153 BST, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had pared earlier falls to trade down by 0.34% or 1.31 points to 384.69, alongside a fall of 0.47% or 59.19 points to 12,611.52 for the German Dax and a dip of 0.32% or 16.60 points to 5,241.98 in the Cac-40.

The FTSE Mibtel on the other hand had turned around to trade up by 0.16% or 33.12 points to 20,825.30.

Acting as a backdrop, Europe's single currency was still adding to gains from the previous day, edging up 0.20% to 1.1360 following an apparent change in tone from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.

However, it was off its best levels of the day at 1.1389.

A drop in the annual rate of harmonised Italian CPI from 1.4% in May to 1.2% in June knocked the single currency off its perch.

On a related note, following the release of that data Barclays Research lowered its projection for euro area wide CPI in June from 1.4% to 1.3%, with downside risks.

Nevertheless, its forecast for the year-on-year rate of change in 'core' CPI was unchanged at 1.0%.

Front month Brent crude futures were 0.24% lower to $46.54 a barrel on the ICE. That followed a surprise 851,000 build in weekly US oil inventories last week, according to data released overnight by the American Petroleum Institute.

French consumer confidence shot ahead in June, with INSEE's monthly gauge jumping from an upwardly revised reading of 103 for May to 108 in June, as Frenchmen cheered the prospect of economic reforms.

Spanish retail sales grew at a 2.4% year-on-year clip in May, ahead of analysts forecasts for a rise of 2.2%.

Euro area money supply (M3) growth edged up from 4.9% in April to 5.0% for May, as expected by economists.

Later in the day, the US Commerce Department was set to publish its first estimate for the international trade balance for May at 1330 BST, followed by figures on wholesale inventories at 1330 BST and pending home sales at 1500 BST.

America's central bank was also scheduled to publish the definitive stress test results for the nation's lenders, at 2130 BST.

The Dutch government cashed in a 7% stake in ABN Amro for €1.48bn, selling 65.0m shares via an accelerated book-building process. It was left holding 63% of the lender's share capital.

Royal Philips inked a deal to takeover America's Spectranetics for $1.7bn.

Nestle unveiled a 20.0bn Swiss franc share buyback programme just days after US activist investor Third Point prodded management to make such a move.

S&P reaffirmed its short and long-term ratings on Intesa Sanpaolo's.

France's Legrand agreed to buy US infrastructure outfit Milestone AV Technologies for $950m.