Investing.com - European stock markets are expected to open largely unchanged Tuesday, with investors searching for cues given a light data calendar and a U.S. holiday.
At 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT), the DAX futures contract in Germany traded 0.1% higher, while CAC 40 futures in France dropped 0.1% and the FTSE 100 futures contract in the U.K. fell 0.2%.
The major European indices closed lower Monday after the release of disappointing June manufacturing activity data for the eurozone as a whole as persistent policy tightening by the European Central Bank hit hard.
The downturn was broad-based with surveys showing factory activity in all four of the region's biggest economies contracted last month.
There’s little data releasing Tuesday, with the exception of German export and import numbers for May. These showed the country's exports fell 0.1% on the month in May, while its imports grew 1.7%, resulting in a falling trade surplus of €14.4 (€1=$1.0898) billion, down from €16.5B the prior month.
China restricts exports of semiconductor metals
Investors will also digest the latest salvo from China in the war between Beijing and the West over access to key high-tech microchips, with China announcing it will curb the exports of some metals widely used in the semiconductor industry.
The Wall Street Journal reported early Tuesday that the U.S. is also preparing to curb Chinese companies’ access to cloud computing services, including those of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
RBA holds interest rates steady
Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate at an 11-year high of 4.10% earlier Tuesday, seeking time to assess the impact of the 400 basis points of hikes since May last year.
However, Australia's central bank also warned that further tightening might be needed to bring inflation back under control.
Aggressive monetary tightening by a series of major central banks, including the European Central Bank, has been a key influence in driving trading sentiment throughout much of this year.
Oil helped by supply cuts
Oil prices edged higher Tuesday, with traders weighing more supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia against signs of weakening economic activity across the globe.
Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it will extend its recently announced 1 million barrels per day cuts to August and potentially beyond, while Russia also said it will trim its oil exports by 500,000 bpd.
However, any gains are likely to be limited with U.S. markets on holiday and following weak manufacturing activity readings from the U.S., Germany and China on Monday.
By 02:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $70.05 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.4% to $74.93.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,931.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.0898.