European shares slip as China worries overshadow robust earnings
(Reuters) - European shares edged lower on Wednesday as signals that China has put broader stimulus on hold overshadowed strong earnings from the likes of SAP and Credit Suisse.
The pan-regional STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0920 GMT - though the benchmark index has notched gains in the past eight consecutive sessions, and shown a tendency to rebound from a weaker open.
'The market is taking some cue from the slowing of stimulus in China,' said Stefan Koopman, Market Economist, Eurozone, Rabobank.
'For the European markets to get some traction in the upcoming months we really need to depend on what's happening in China.'
Most major regional bourses were in the red though the slew of upbeat earnings helping German and Swiss indexes advance.
Business software company SAP soared to an all-time high and boosted the DAX after the company set ambitious new mid-term targets and as activist investor Elliott Management disclosed a 1.2 billion euro (£1.04 billion)stake in the company.
Top performer was Wirecard which climbed 8 percent after the payments company confirmed Japan's Softbank Group Corp will buy a 5.6 percent stake in the firm.
STMicro shrugged off a gloomy prediction by bigger rival Texas Instruments and posted a broadly inline update, which sent its shares up more than 3 percent.
SAP and STMicro drove the tech sector up 2.5 percent to its highest since July 2018.