By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets inched higher on
Monday as investors welcomed upbeat data on Chinese industrial
production and focused on corporate news.
There is very little on the data agenda on either sides of the
Atlantic.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.1% to 323.14, after posting
on Friday the largest five-week point gain since the week ending
Aug. 9.
Shares of RSA Insurance Group PLC slid 9.4% after the company
late Friday issued a profit warning for the full year and said it
had suspended the chief executive and chief financial officer of
its Irish division, as it investigates issues that were identified
during a routine audit.
Credit Suisse cut the insurance firm to underperform from
neutral following the announcement of problems with the Irish
business.
BT Group PLC added 0.5% after the telecom and broadband provider
bought the rights to broadcast live Champions League and Europa
League soccer matches for 897 million pounds ($1.4 billion). The
rights are currently held by rivals British Sky Broadcasting Group
PLC , down 9.6%, and ITV PLC , 1.4% lower. Citigroup said ITV is
probably the bigger casualty of BT's rights acquisition and lowered
the rating to neutral from buy. Meanwhile, Nomura cut BSkyB to
reduce from buy.
On a more upbeat note in Europe, shares of Lonmin PLC rallied
6.3% after the platinum miner said it swung to profit on the full
year as it recovered from the effects of a violent strike last
year.
More broadly, investors were inspired to take on more risk after
data over the weekend showed industrial production in China rose
10.3% in October, beating expectations and coming in higher that
the 10.2% rate printed in September.
The optimism over the Chinese numbers were, however, partly
offset by worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve could begin to
taper its asset purchases sooner than previously expected after a
solid nonfarm-payrolls report out on Friday. Data from the Labor
Department showed 204,000 jobs were added to the economy in
October, beating expectations of a 100,000 number.
U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Monday, while
Asian markets closed mixed.
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 6,724.10,
while France's CAC 40 index added 0.3% to 4,273.02. Germany's DAX
30 index picked up 0.2% to 9,092.89.
Shares of Shire climbed 4.1% in London after the drug maker said
it is buying rare-disease company ViroPharma Inc. (VPHM) for $4.2
billion, or $50 a share.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires