LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Stocks began the session on a mixed note as investors waited on fresh inflation data for the euro area.
Against that backdrop, European Central Bank chief, Christine Lagarde, said that the monetary authority could raise interest rates rise at its September meeting or keep them at their current level.

" A pause, whenever it occurs, in September or later, would not necessarily be definitive," Lagarde told Le Figaro.

Lagarde also described second quarter growth data for France, Germany and Spain as "quite encouraging".

As of 0852 BST, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was drifting lower by 0.14% to 470.14.

Germany's Dax was down by 0.16% to 16,443.72 but the Italy's FTSE Mib was adding 0.17% to 29,556.09.

Destatis reported that German retail sales in the euro area's largest economy dropped at a month-on-month pace of 0.8% in June (consensus: 0.2%).

But prior months' data were revised up by a combined 1.5 percentage points.

Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics noted that sales were higher for the second quarter as a whole, as the drag from soaring inflation faded.

Italian second quarter GDP growth meanwhile was reported as down by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter (consensus: 0.0%), albeit after expanding 0.6% in the first three months of 2023.

Heineken shares dropped 5% after the brewer reduced its earnings forecast due to the weaker consumption.

That followed a 22% drop in operating profits for the first half of the year.

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