Investing.com - European stocks edged higher in light trade on Monday, as investors shrugged off Friday's downbeat U.S. nonfarm payrolls data, while a ruling in Germany supported European equities.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 inched up 0.01%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.13%, while Germany’s DAX 30 edged up 0.11%.
On Friday, the Labor Department said the U.S. economy added 113,000 jobs in January, well below expectations for 185,000 new jobs, as inclement weather contributed to the slowdown in hiring.
The report also showed that the number of people participating in the labor force edged up to 63% from a 30-year low of 62.8% last month, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked down to a five year low 6.6% from 6.7% in December.
In the euro zone, Germany's constitutional Court ruled at the end of the week that the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program may exceed its mandate, and referred it to European Court of Justice.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders BNP Paribas and Societe Generale lost 0.59% and 0.05%, while Germany's Deutsche Bank slipped 0.15%.
Among peripheral lenders, Spanish banks BBVA and Banco Santander retreated 0.77% and 0.79% respectively. Italy's Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo overperformed however, up 0.13% and 0.19%.
Elsewhere, Nestle shares rallied 1.70% after the company signaled to L’Oreal’s management its intention to reduce its stake in the cosmetics maker. The decision came ahead of April’s expiry of restrictions on Nestle’s stake imposed by a shareholder agreement with the Bettencourt family, the largest shareholder.
In related news, Evolva Holding soared 8.21% after the Swiss developer of food ingredients said it signed a collaboration agreement with L’Oreal for the co-development of an undisclosed ingredient with broad applications in the cosmetics industry.
In London, commodity-heavy FTSE 100 added 0.11%, led by gains in energy and mining stocks.
Petrofac was the best performer on the index, up 3.93%, while mining companies Fresnillo and Randgold Resources surged 3.25% and 1.55% respectively.
Meanwhile, financial stocks were also mostly higher as Lloyds Banking edged up 0.17% and the Royal Bank of Scotland added 0.24%, while Barclays gained 0.46% as it launched an investigation after a newspaper reported that the personal details of 27,000 customers had been stolen and sold.
Fellow U.K. lender Barclays underperformed on the other hand, with shares declining 0.73%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a lower open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.21% fall, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.27% decline, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.12% loss.
Also Monday, official data showed that French industrial production fell 0.3% in December, compared to expectations for a 0.1% uptick. Industrial production in November was revised down to a 1.2% increase from a previously estimated 1.3% rise.