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July 3 (Reuters) - European shares edged higher in early
trading on Wednesday on hopes that France's Christine Lagarde,
who was named the new head of the European Central Bank, will
continue with the dovish policy stance of current chief Mario
Draghi.
If approved by the European parliament, Lagarde will succeed
Draghi when his term expires at the end of October.
Government bond yields in much of the euro zone fell to
fresh record lows on the news and bank stocks .SX7P , which
tend to suffer from a low interest rate environment, fell 0.5%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX gained 0.2% by
0706 GMT, with the food & beverages sector .SX3P outperforming
with a 0.9% rise.
German consumer goods company Henkel HNKG_p.DE rose 1.5%
after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral"
as the brokerage expects the company's recovery in the second
half of the year to drive future growth.
European chipmakers took a hit after a senior U.S. official
told the Commerce Department's enforcement staff this week that
China's Huawei should still be treated as blacklisted.
The news comes as a stark difference from U.S. President
Donald Trump decision over the weekend to ease a ban on sales to
the Chinese firm.
STMicroelectronics STM.MI , STMicroelectronics STM.MI and
Infineon IFXGn.DE fell between 1% and 2%.