European Shares Little Changed In Lackluster Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks were little changed on Tuesday amid bets that central banks would not push global economies into recession by raising interest rates.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held rates steady earlier today, with Governor Philip Lowe saying that inflation had 'passed its peak'.

Meanwhile, Germany's exports fell unexpectedly in May, while imports increased after falling for two straight months, data from Destatis showed.

Exports decreased 0.1 percent on month in May, reversing a 1.0 percent gain in April. Shipments were forecast to grow 0.3 percent.

At the same time, imports rebounded 1.7 percent after a 0.1 percent drop. However, this was weaker than economists' forecast of 3.1 percent.

On a yearly basis, the decline in exports deepened to 4.0 percent from 1.7 percent. Imports posted an annual fall of 10.6 percent following April's 11.2 percent decline.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent at 461.89 after declining 0.2 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX was marginally lower, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were little changed with a positive bias.

Regional trading volumes remained thin due to the Independence Day holiday in the U.S.

Miners were seeing broad-based losses on concerns about the demand outlook from China.

U.K. housebuilders Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey fell around 1 percent each amid concerns about an impending recession.

Budget airline Wizz Air Holdings added 1.6 percent after passenger traffic improved in June from a year earlier.

Retail group J Sainsbury's declined 1.6 percent despite reporting an improved first quarter and backing its full-year guidance.

French supermarket Casino jumped more than 16 percent after receiving two offers to boost its equity base.

Dutch insurer Aegon added 1.4 percent after an announcement that it has completed the combination of its Dutch pension, life and non-life insurance, banking, and mortgage origination activities with ASR.