EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Edge Higher Ahead Of Inflation Report

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Stocks in Europe held to thin gains Tuesday ahead of a key report on inflation in the eurozone.

As the region has been dogged with persistently low inflation, attention will turn to a Eurostat report due at 10 a.m. London time, or 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Consumer prices on an annual rate may have only risen by 0.3% in September, which would be the slowest rate of inflation in five years. Inflation stood at 0.4% in August on a year-over-year basis.

Investors have already sifted through a mixed round of data on Tuesday. German unemployment in September rose unexpectedly, indicating softening in the labor market in Europe's largest economy. From France, consumer spending rose in August, a rebound from July, but a decline in producer prices in August accelerated to a rate of 0.3%.

In Italy, the unemployment rate fell to 12.3% in August from 12.6% in July, but the rate of youth unemployment climbed to a record high.

Markets: The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.2% to 341.68, and has hovered around that level throughout Tuesday's morning trade. The index is on track for a 0.1% pullback in September as well as for the third quarter.

Germany's DAX 30 rose 0.1% to 9,430.29, and France's CAC 40 gained 0.3% to 4,371.01. Italy's FTSE MIB tacked on 0.2%.

Among the session's best price performers, shares of Royal Bank of Scotland climbed 3.5% after the bank said losses from bad loans in 2014 are likely to be "significantly lower" than the GBP1 billion ($1.6 billion) that it had anticipated.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.1%, with a profit warning from retailer Next PLC weighing on its shares.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires