European shares edged up on Tuesday morning as sentiment regarding tensions between the US and Russia eased up with attention shifting to the first-quarter earnings season and deal-making.

The pan-regional STOXX 600 index was up 0.1 per cent by 0740 GMT, while other European benchmarks were also trading in positive territory, catching up slightly with a strong close on Wall Street.

Data from China however gave a mixed picture of the country's economic health as growth hit a welcome 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2018 but separate figures showed March industrial output missed expectations.

“After a calming of geopolitical concerns and optimism about the Q1 earnings season, mixed data from China may revive queries about the strength of the worlds #2 economy,” Accendo Markets analysts Mike van Dulken and Artjom Hatsaturjants told their clients.

Sweden's Intrum Justitia surged more than 11 per cent, and posted the best performance of the index after it filed a binding bid for Intesa Sanpaolo's debt collection unit in a €3.6 billion deal that rids the Italian bank of €10.8 billion ($13 billion) in bad debts.

While Italy's non-performing loans used to be seen as a major threat to the country's economy and by extension to the Euro zone, they are no longer the concern they used to be and Milan's stock market has been outperforming its peers for months.

Intesa Sanpaolo was up 0.7 per cent while Italy's FTSE MIB rose 0.3 per cent, ahead of other indices such as Paris' CAC 40 up 0.1 per cent of Germany's DAX 0.2 per cent.

Britain's Associated British Foods was a top performer, up 3.6 per cent after reporting first-half profit, with a resilient performance at its Primark fashion business and a previously flagged reduction in sugar revenues.

Shares in French healthcare group Sanofi retreated slightly, down 0.2 per cent after it announced exclusive talks with private equity firm Advent International to sell its Zentiva European generics drugs arm to Advent for €1.9 billion ($2.4 billion).

Still on the French M&A front, Lagardere, the French media group whose assets include Paris Match magazine and Europe 1 radio, rose 0.8 per cent after it said it would sell some eastern European radio assets to Czech Media Invest.

Shares in French supermarket Casino rose 0.6 per cent after the company reported a 3.1 per cent rise in first-quarter sales that reflected stronger performance in its Geant Casino hypermarkets and in Brazil despite food inflation.

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