European stocks trade choppy, sentiment hurt by poor UK PMI

The sentiment on the European equity markets turned sour at the start of a brand new week on Monday, as markets were disappointed by horrid UK construction PMI numbers, while looming concerns over the Brexit fallout resurfaced.

The UK construction PMI deteriorated sharply to 46 points in June, after May's 51.2, which was way lower than 50.7 points expected.

Moreover, reports that UK’s Chancellor Osborne is considering a corporate tax cut to less than 15% in a bid to offset the Brexit-vote led economic fallout, keeps the downside cushioned in the region’s indices. Meanwhile, markets shrugged-off other economic news out of the Euro zone, as higher oil and gold prices lent support to the mining and energy stocks.

Germany's DAX 30 index trades -0.28% at 9,750, while the UK's FTSE 100 index trades modestly lower at 6,575. French CAC 40 index drops -0.37% to 4,258, while the Euro Stoxx 50 index slips -0.13% to 2,878.

Looking ahead, the low volumes are likely to persist on the European markets, as the US investors are off due to the celebration of Independence Day.