European stocks were largely flat on Monday as losses in automakers countered gains in miners, while investors braced for a busy week of corporate earnings and economic data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index inched up 0.02% in early trading after it recorded its first weekly loss in eight on Friday.
A 10-year high for Shanghai copper prices and a surge in other metals boosted shares of European miners, with the basic resources index climbing 0.5% to lead sectoral gains.
Auto stocks took a hit, with Volkswagen AG slipping 1.1% after the Financial Times reported the company had warned managers to prepare for a bigger production hit in the second quarter due to a global chip shortage.
Austrian sensor maker AMS fell 4.3% after Credit Suisse double downgraded its stock to “underperform”, citing concerns around the company potentially losing product supply deals at Apple.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
Source: Reuters