European shares edge higher after breakthrough in Merkel migration row

LONDON: European shares edged higher on Tuesday after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives settled a row over migration and gave some respite to investors facing a rage of political worries including trade tensions with the United States.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.6 percent by 0833 GMT with Germany's DAX posting the best performance with a 0.9 percent rise.

The dispute over immigration had threatened to topple Merkel's fragile governing coalition but in a breakthrough late on Monday evening, her rebellious interior minister dropped his  threat to resign after five hours of talks.

Asian shares, which had sustained heavy falls overnight, particularly in China, recouped some of their losses before European bourses opened, helping restore sentiment.

Chinese financial markets have been jittery ahead of a July 6 deadline, when the U.S. is set to slap tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods that Beijing has vowed to match with tariffs on U.S. products.

"Calls for a positive start are helped by a positive close on Wall Street and only mild losses in Asia overnight," wrote Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

Miner Glencore fell more than 10 percent after it said a subsidiary had received a U.S. Department of Justice subpoena requesting documents and records on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and U.S. money-laundering statutes.

The documents requested from subsidiary Glencore Ltd relate to the group's business in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Venezuela from 2007 to present, Glencore said, adding it was reviewing the subpoena.

Another big faller was BE Semiconductor, the Dutch equipment maker lost over 8 percent after cutting revenue forecast.

Societe Generale rose 1.3 percent and Commerzbank  up 2.1 percent after the latter agreed to sell its equity markets and commodities business (EMC) to the French bank.