European shares slip as rate hike worries, rising infections weigh

European shares slipped in early trading on Monday after marking their first weekly drop in three last week amid surging COVID-19 infections and an increasingly uncertain interest rate outlook.

The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped 0.4 per cent, as of 0830 GMT, weighed down by real estate, tech and industrial stocks, while major global share markets eked out gains.

Market focus is now on the euro zone unemployment data for November and Sentix index data measuring investor sentiment for January.

Among stocks, Carige jumped 4.3 per cent after a report said BPER Banca, Italy's fifth-largest bank, improved its offer to prevail over rival suitor Credit Agricole Italia.

BMW gained 1.4 per cent after Goldman Sachs upgraded the German car giant to "buy" and hiked its price target to 123 euros from 110 euros.

French technology consulting company Atos slumped 16.7 per cent after issuing a profit warning that reflected delays in customer deals and pressured margins at its hardware and software resales unit.