European shares hit an intraday record high on Monday as signs of easing trade tensions between the United States and China boosted risk appetite.
The continent-wide STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) edged up 0.1% to 576.08 points, as of 0948 GMT. Other major regional indexes struggled for a clear direction.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. and China are set to "come away with" a trade deal, as he is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart later this week to decide on the framework of a trade deal hashed out over the weekend.
A deal would pause steeper U.S. tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, calming investor nerves.
"We still seem to be overshadowed by geopolitical situations. Some positive developments between the US and China seem to be boosting sentiment towards the market... that's a good place to start and hopefully then some fundamentals might drive markets on during the week," said Michael Field, chief equity analyst at Morningstar.
European banks (.SX7P) added 0.5%, tech sector (.SX8P) rose 1.5%, while stocks of healthcare (.SXDP) and food and beverage (.SX3P) declined 0.8% each.
Investors also await major central bank meetings due later this week for monetary policy cues.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting on Wednesday, a view supported by a softer-than-expected inflation report on Friday. The European Central Bank is expected to hold rates steady later this week.
Among corporate updates, Porsche AG (P911_p.DE) rose 1.5% after the luxury carmaker reported on Friday an adjusted operating loss that was smaller than the market had feared.
Shares in Sydbank (SYDB.CO) rose 6.4% after the Danish bank agreed to a merger deal with Vestjysk (VJBA.CO) and Arbejdernes Landsbank.
Novartis (NOVN.S) fell 1.3% after the drugmaker said on Sunday it agreed to acquire U.S. biotech firm Avidity Biosciences for about $12 billion in cash.
London-listed shares of HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) lost 1.1% after saying it will book a $1.1 billion provision in its third-quarter results after losing part of an appeal in a lawsuit tied to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Kemira (KEMIRA.HE) fell 4.1% after Inderes downgraded the stock, while drugmaker Roche (ROG.S) declined 2.2% after a Jefferies downgrade.
Meanwhile, a survey showed German business morale rose in October.
