-- European bourses tracked marginally lower midday Wednesday as traders mulled the earnings season and awaited clarity on possible Tehran-Washington peace talks.
Property and tech stocks led gains on continental trading floors, while bank and oil shares lagged.
Upmarket retail stocks pulled back after disappointing quarterly results from luxury-good purveyors Hermes and Kering, who reported sales suppressed in part by the Middle East conflict. Hermes stock was down 8.2% midday, while Kering shares were 9.9% lower.
Investors also eyed flat Wall Street futures amid higher closes overnight on Asian exchanges.
In economic news, seasonally adjusted industrial production in the Eurozone, and in the broader European Union, gained 0.4% month over month in February, Eurostat reported. Year over year, industrial output in February decreased by 0.6% in in the euro area and declined 0.1% in the EU.
The pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 Index was off 0.1% mid-session.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Technology Index was up 0.3%, and the Stoxx 600 Banks Index lost 0.3%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Oil and Gas Index eased 0.2%, while the Stoxx 600 Europe Food and Beverage Index declined 0.1%.
The REITE, a European REIT index, gained 0.4%.
On the national market indexes, Germany's DAX was steady, and the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.1%. The CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.6%, and Spain's IBEX 35 eased 0.5%
Yields on benchmark 10-year German bonds were slightly higher, near 3.03%.
Front-month North Sea Brent crude-oil futures were up 1.4% at $96.12 a barrel.
The Euro Stoxx 50 volatility index was up 2.1% at 21.07, indicating above-average volatility for European stock markets in the next 30 days, a negative signal. A reading above 20 indicates choppier markets ahead, while below 20 suggests calmer exchanges.