Europe follows Asian stocks lower as U.S.-China tensions escalate

(Reuters) – European shares slipped on Friday after their Asian peers were hit by a further escalation in U.S.-China tensions, but an upbeat earnings season and hopes of more stimulus kept most regional indexes on course for weekly gains.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index <.stoxx> was down 0.2% by 0717 GMT, with banks , automakers <.sxap> and oil and gas firms <.sxep> leading declines.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday moved to ban U.S. transactions with popular Chinese apps, Tencent’s WeChat and ByteDance’s Tiktok, knocking 1% off Asia Pacific shares.

European markets were relatively more resilient, but Amsterdam-listed Prosus , with its biggest investment in Tencent , fell 5.8%.

British aero-engineer Rolls-Royce Holdings dropped 2.3% after a media report that activist shareholder ValueAct Capital Management sold its stake in the company.

Deutsche Telekom , which owns 43% of T-Mobile , rose 2.1% after the U.S. firm added more monthly phone subscribers than expected in the second quarter.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)