Europe midday: Investors awaiting US data

European equities have begun the day drifting higher in the wake of the positive close to trading seen on Wall Street.

Better than expected macroeconomic data out overnight in China and Japan also gave shares an early lift.

However, economists at Nomura have expressed surprise at the robust export data released by Beijing this morning, telling clients that it may be masking some capital inflows.

Interestingly, there seems to be some modest dispersion in economists' reactions to the European Central Bank President's press conference yesterday. For now however the correct reading seems to be that the ECB is 'on hold' unless the economic the flow of economic data were to deteriorate significantly.

Muted company news-flow

French Media conglomerate Lagardere has pledged to sell its stake in European aerospace giant EADS before July 31st. That came as the firm unveiled that it had gone back into the blue last year, to the tune of 89m euros at the operating level.

Airline carrier SAS has reiterated its forecast for a profit in the 2012/13 fiscal year this morning.

From a sector stand-point the best performance is now to be seen in the following sectors: Banks (1.53%), Telecommunications (0.03%) and Insurance (0.65%).

Mixed economic figures

The French central bank's business confidence barometer for the month of February has come in at 96 points, ahead of last month's level of 95.

Spanish industrial production contracted at a 5% month-on-month pace in January (Consensus: -6%).

German industrial production remained flat in January (Consensus: 0.4%).

Single currency stuck at 1.31

The euro/dollar is now off by -0.08%, to 1.31.

Front month Brent crude futures are down by 0.515 dollars to the 110.58 dollar mark on the ICE.