LIVE MARKETS-Opening snapshot: Black Friday indeed

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Thyagaraju Adinarayan. Reach him on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: thyagaraju.adinarayan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

OPENING SNAPSHOT: BLACK FRIDAY INDEED (0821 GMT)

Talking about Black Friday, there are many theories behind why it is called so. One is that the day after Thanksgiving is seen as the point in the year when retailers go from being "in the red" to being "in the black".

The reason why we picked that theory is Ocado's 12% jump this morning. The British online grocer is in a different league, rising 13%, while the rest of the market is drowning in a sea of red.

Ocado is boosted by it's tech partnership agreement with Japan's biggest supermarket operator Aeon Co and a gateway to Asia, one of the fastest growing markets for e-commerce.

There are no other notable moves in Europe, but the pan-European STOXX 600 is down 0.5% in broad sell-off in almost all the sectors.

Trade sensitive sectors autos and mining are top fallers.

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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TRADE WOES KEEP STOCKS UNDER PRESSURE; OCADO SHINES (0748 GMT)

European stocks are seen falling 0.3% as the latest clash between Washington and Beijing over Hong Kong casts pall over trade truce between the world's top two economies.

In the corporate world, Ocado is called up 5% by traders after the British online grocer signed an agreement with Japan's Aeon Co to help the supermarket operator expand in e-commerce.

AIM-listed vehicle rental services firm Redde is seen rising 25% after rival Northgate in an all-share deal.

Shares of Norwegian bank DNB could be under pressure on news that police are probing if any laws were broken in its handling of payments from an Icelandic fisheries firm to Namibia. The investigation follows a report that Icelandic fisheries group Samherji had made illicit payments worth millions of dollars to secure fishing quotas in Namibia.

Key headlines:

Japan's Aeon turns to Ocado to expand online grocery service

France's PSA to sell stake in smaller Chinese tie-up as sales slide

Hedge funds control 35-45% of Osram shares in headache for suitor AMS -source

Northgate to take over Redde, plans new vehicle renting firm

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

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MARKETS IN WAIT-AND-SEE MODE (0638 GMT)

European stocks are heading for another subdued session with moves that are unlikely to hurt the chances of a monthly and weekly gain for the pan-European STOXX 600 index.

Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 21 points lower at 7,396, Frankfurt's DAX to open 29 points lower at 13,216 and Paris' CAC to open 8 points lower at 5,905.

U.S.-China trade truce hopes and a Conservative majority in UK election with econominc conditions just about stabilising have driven stocks higher this month. STOXX 600 has risen 3.1% so far this month.

But in the last two days, investors have been in wait-and-see mode with Washington's Hong Kong bill injecting fresh uncertainty in the sigining of 'phase one' trade deal with China.​

(Thyagaraju Adinarayan)

***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Joice Alves, Julien Ponthus and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)