By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in Europe held to thin gains
Tuesday ahead of a key report on inflation in the eurozone.
As the region has been dogged with persistently low inflation,
attention will turn to a Eurostat report due at 10 a.m. London
time, or 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Consumer prices on an annual rate may
have only risen by 0.3% in September, which would be the slowest
rate of inflation in five years. Inflation stood at 0.4% in August
on a year-over-year basis.
Investors have already sifted through a mixed round of data on
Tuesday. German unemployment in September rose unexpectedly,
indicating softening in the labor market in Europe's largest
economy. From France, consumer spending rose in August, a rebound
from July, but a decline in producer prices in August accelerated
to a rate of 0.3%.
In Italy, the unemployment rate fell to 12.3% in August from
12.6% in July, but the rate of youth unemployment climbed to a
record high.
Markets: The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.2% to 341.68, and has
hovered around that level throughout Tuesday's morning trade. The
index is on track for a 0.1% pullback in September as well as for
the third quarter.
Germany's DAX 30 rose 0.1% to 9,430.29, and France's CAC 40
gained 0.3% to 4,371.01. Italy's FTSE MIB tacked on 0.2%.
Among the session's best price performers, shares of Royal Bank
of Scotland climbed 3.5% after the bank said losses from bad loans
in 2014 are likely to be "significantly lower" than the GBP1
billion ($1.6 billion) that it had anticipated.
The U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.1%, with a profit warning from
retailer Next PLC weighing on its shares.
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