STOXX 600 flat, miners top gainers
Polish stocks shine after election
SoftwareOne rises after Reuters report of PE bids Ocado falls as Barclays downgrades

Oct 16 Reuters European shares were flat on Monday as prospects of an escalation in the Middle East conflict kept investors on the sidelines, though equities in Poland climbed following Sunday39;s parliamentary election.

The STOXX 600 was steady at 448.39 points by 841 GMT, with risk sentiment on shaky grounds over concerns that the IsraelHamas conflict would spill over to the broader region after Iran warned Israel of escalation.

The Euro STOXX volatility index hit an eightweek high.

There39;s quite a lot of uncertainty and volatility is elevated today, said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at HYCM.

If Iran does enter the conflict, then that would see a sharp rise in energy prices and that has an impact for inflation expectations.

Industrials were down 0.3, with utilities also among top decliners and down 0.5.

Limiting declines, the mining index rose 0.9 as prices of base metals were lifted by hopes of stronger demand from China.

Also boosting the index was a 2.0 gain in the shares of SSAB after JP Morgan upgraded the Swedish steel company to overweight from neutral.

Energy stocks hit a fresh nineyear high and were last up 0.6 as crude prices eased, but held above 90 a barrel.

Poland39;s WIG20 index rose 3.6, outperforming other European indices after the ruling nationalists looked to have fallen…