Europe open: Shares edge lower as investors await PMI data, mull China rating cut

(Sharecast News) - European shares edged lower on Tuesday as investors awaited eurozone and US business activity data and digested a cut in China's credit rating to 'negative' by Moody's. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.05% in early deals with major regional bourses mixed. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.41% after Qatar Holding cut its stake in Barclays Bank.

The UK mood was also tempered by data showing consumers remained cautious despite the increasing number of Black Friday deals ahead of the Christmas period.

Like for like sales in November rose 2.6%, unchanged from the previous month, with sales of high value goods remaining soft, with consumers preferring to go with lower ticket and essential items spend of food and drink, health and personal care.

In equity news, shares in Barclays fell after Qatar Holding moved to sell around £510m in stock.

Telecom stocks were in focus, with Ericsson up 9% after striking a deal with AT&T to build a major telecom network using ORAN technology, while Nokia plunged 9.7% on losing more supplier work to Ericsson.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com