European stocks edge lower as threat of U.S. tariffs hits Airbus, suppliers

(Reuters) – European shares opened slightly lower , weighed down by planemaker Airbus as well as its suppliers, which took successful from proposed U.S. tariffs, while an event-packed week kept investors cautious.

At 0728 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 index dipped 0.07 percent, with Paris's CAC down 0.2 percent and Frankfurt's trade-sensitive DAX off 0.1 %.

Shares of planemaker Airbus dropped 2.Five percent after the U.S. Trade Representative proposed tariffs for a listing of Eu products including large commercial aircraft and parts. Washington is seeking to retaliate for longer than $11 billion valuation on EU subsidies to Airbus that your World Trade Organization has found cause "adverse effects" to the Usa.

Airbus suppliers for instance Safran (PA:SAF), Leonardo and Dassault lost between 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent.

Investors are keeping a close eye on a trade summit involving the European Union and China on Tuesday that bloc attempt to coax Beijing to look at up its markets.

The European Central Bank is expected to hold borrowing costs when its policymakers meet on Wednesday, in 24 hours British Pm Theresa May's request to delay Brexit until June 30 is going to be formally discussed by EU leaders in the special summit.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis slipped over 2 percent, among the many biggest drags on STOXX 600, trading for the first day after completing the spin off its eyecare division Alcon.

Alcon shares surged 32 percent to use debut.

Bechtle AG dropped over 2 percent and pulled the tech sector lower after Berenberg downgraded the German IT company's stock to "hold".

Merck KGaA dipped on winning the backing of Versum's board for the sweetened $6.5 billion takeover bid, overturning an agreed merger with rival Entegris because it bets with a recovery in electronic materials markets.

Norwegian mobile operator Telenor slipped after acknowledging get a 54 percent stake in Finnish telecoms firm DNA for 1.5 billion euros ($1.69 billion).

Keeping losses manageable were shares of Total SA (PA:TOTF), which rose after the French energy major along with its partners signed a long-awaited address Papua New Guinea that initial attempt to start on a $13 billion prefer to double country's liquefied propane exports.