European stocks inch higher as commodity prices support

European shares tiptoed higher on Monday, led by miners and energy stocks as commodity prices strengthened, while investors awaited a flurry of earnings reports with several behemoths set to publish results this week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 inched 0.02 per cent higher by 0707 GMT, after Asian peers eked out slim gains.

Mining and energy stocks climbed 1 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively, boosted by oil prices at multi-year highs and copper prices advancing as inventories in Shanghai exchange warehouses dropped to a more than 12-year low.


The focus is on a slew of earnings this week, including from Facebook, Microsoft, Deutsche Bank, and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as a European Central Bank meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday.

British bank HSBC Holdings inched up 0.4 per cent after concerns about pandemic-related bad loans were replaced by a $2 billion buyback and a surprise rise in the bank's third-quarter profit.

UniCredit fell 3.6 per cent after the Italian government and the bank ended talks over the sale of ailing Tuscan bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, in a huge setback to attempts by the Rome government to return the bank to private hands.