Swiss earnings drive European shares higher

European shares inched lower on Tuesday as investors sifted through a mixed bag of corporate earnings and eyed latest developments in U.S.-China trade talks and Britain's progress towards some form of orderly departure from the European Union.

Germany's DAX and Switzerland's SSMI both bucked the trend, with the latter helped by a 1% gain for drugmaker Novartis after it raised its 2019 targets and reported better-than-expected revenue. Another Swiss company, Apple supplier AMS also climbed 6% as demand from smartphone makers boosted operating profit.

French specialty minerals company Imerys slipped 6% after cutting its outlook for 2019, while Norway's Aker BP moved marginally lower as it slashed its full-year oil output target. British household goods maker Reckitt Benckiser was moored to the bottom of the pan-European STOXX index with a 5% fall after it cut its full-year sales forecast for the second time this year.

The STOXX was down just over 0.1% by 0728 GMT. Shares of UBS led gains among banking stocks after Switzerland's biggest bank reported a smaller than expected loss in quarterly profit.

Swedish defense firm Saab rose 7% to top the STOXX 600 after reporting third-quarter operating earnings well ahead of market forecasts and affirming its view that operating cashflow this year would improve versus 2018.