Europe open: Stocks moving back higher ahead of US CPI

(Sharecast News) - Stocks in Europe were moving higher as investors waited on an important consumer price report in the U.S. due out later in the session. "The slowdown in China does raise the risk that central banks might over play their hand when it comes to further rate hikes, while any indication that inflation might start to baseline and turn higher could well complicate matters further as the Federal Reserve decides as to whether it has done enough, or whether they need to hike again in September," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"This makes today's US CPI for July and tomorrow's PPI numbers extremely important in the decision-making process."

Against that backdrop, as of 0833 BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was 0.63% higher at 463.48, alongside a 0.93% gain for the German Dax to 15,999.98 and an advance of 1.16% to 28,636.40 for the FTSE Mib.

Dutch TTF natural gas futures were dipping by 1.3% to €38.5/MWh, having surged during the previous session due to the risk of strikes in the sector Down Under that might threaten winter supplies.

At 0900 BST, the European Central Bank would publish its monthly economic bulletin.

The US CPI report was scheduled to be published at 1330 BST, alongside weekly unemployment claims data.

German insurer Allianz posted better-than-expected second quarter operating profits of €3.78bn.

Henkel's delivered first half organic sales of 4.8%, which were ahead of analysts' estimates, alongside stronger-than-expected operating margins of 11.5%.