European stocks were largely flat on Monday as losses in automakers countered gains in miners, while investors braced for a busy week of corporate earnings and economic data.

The panEuropean STOXX 600 index inched up 0.02 in early trading after it recorded its first weekly loss in eight on Friday.

A 10year high for Shanghai copper prices and a surge in other metals boosted shares of European miners, with the basic resources index climbing 0.5 to lead sectoral gains.

Auto stocks took a hit, with Volkswagen AG slipping 1.1 after the Financial Times reported the company had warned managers to prepare for a bigger production hit in the second quarter due to a global chip shortage.

Austrian sensor maker AMS fell 4.3 after Credit Suisse double downgraded its stock to underperform, citing concerns around the company potentially losing product supply deals at Apple.

Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu

Source Reuters