EUROPE MARKETS: Europe Stocks Mixed; Swatch Up After Earnings

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets traded mixed in choppy action on Monday, with investors digesting upbeat Chinese data, while Swatch Group AG rose after a solid earnings report.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 0.1% to 288.51, adding to a 0.3% gain from Friday.

Shares of the world's largest watchmaker Swatch Group picked up 2.8%, after the firm reported a 26% rise in full-year profit and said it had come off to a healthy start in 2013.

Shares of Suez Environnement SA jumped 4.9%, after HSBC lifted the water and waste firm to overweight from neutral, citing an improved business environment.

For the broader European stock markets, investors took inspiration from China, where data over the weekend showed the services sector expanded for a fourth straight month in January. The non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to 56.2 from 56.1 in the final month of 2012. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

Among notable movers in Europe, shares of UniCredit SpA dropped 3.1%, as UBS cut the Italian bank to neutral from buy. On Friday, the bank lost 2.6%, after Reuters reported that employees at the bank were being investigated for fraud related to derivatives contracts.

The FTSE MIB index slumped 1.3% to 17,098.67.

In Germany, Deutsche Post AG fell 1.7%, after HSBC cut the firm to underweight from neutral.

The DAX 30 index traded 0.1% lower at 7,282.72.

And in France, the CAC 40 index slipped 0.1% to 3,768.63. Shares of Renault SA gave up 1.8%, as HSBC cut the car maker to neutral from overweight.

In the U.K., shares of Johnson Matthey PLC tripped 1.9%, after Citigroup downgraded the chemicals firm to neutral from buy.

The FTSE 100 index lost 0.3% to 6,331.49.

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