World shares edged higher on Tuesday after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that China-US trade talks were due to resume in two weeks' time.
Germany's DAX was up less than 0.1 per cent at 12,346, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2 per cent to 5,641.
Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.2 per cent lower to 7,299 after the country's top court said the prime minister's suspension of parliament was illegal, adding new uncertainty to the Brexit saga.
The future contracts for the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 picked up 0.3 per cent.
Markets in China were steady after China's central bank governor said policy will stay "stable and healthy," suggesting Beijing has no plans to join the United States and Europe in cutting interest rates to stimulate economic growth.
Yi Gang said Tuesday the People's Bank of China will avoid a "massive stimulus."
Beijing is trying to counter cooling growth amid a tariff war with Washington but is wary of any steps that might add to debt levels that are so high that rating agencies have cut China's credit rating.
"I think mainland policymakers are more concerned about liquidity transmission. In other words, the most efficient means to get the cash in the hands of companies that will benefit the most from it rather than cutting interest rates aggressively," Stephen Innes of AxiTrader said in a commentary.
Mnuchin on Monday confirmed the trade negotiations were on track, saying he expected talks with China to resume the week of October 7.
The Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3 per cent to 2,985.34 while Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.1 per cent to 22,098.84.
In Hong Kong the Hang Seng index gained 0.3 per cent to 26,304.05 after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told reporters she hoped a "town hall" dialogue this week might be a step forward in the "long journey" to reconciliation after weeks of sometimes violent protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
In the latest of a slew of discouraging indicators, a preliminary manufacturers survey showed factory activity slowing in Japan last month.
The IHS Markit purchasing managers index fell to 48.9 points in September from 49.3 in August, on a gauge where 50 marks the break between expansion and contraction.
A survey in Germany showed business managers were more pessimistic about their outlook for the next half-year, reinforcing fears Germany has entered a shallow recession.
Shares in Volkswagen were down 2.4 per cent after German prosecutors charged its CEO and chairman for not alerting investors soon enough about the costs of the diesel scandal that broke in 2015.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.5 per cent to 2,101.04 and Australia's S&P ASX 200 ended flat at 6,127.66.
Shares fell in Taiwan and Indonesia but were higher in Singapore and Thailand.
India's Sensex edged 0.1 per cent lower to 39,066.25.
Meanwhile, oil prices and the energy sector could experience more volatility this week as Trump takes seeks a coalition to confront Iran, which the US blames for last week's strike on a Saudi Arabian oil facility.
Benchmark crude oil lost 57 cents to settle at USD 58.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil, the international standard, declined 73 cents to USD 63.00 a barrel.
The dollar rose to 107.69 Japanese yen from 107.54 yen on Monday.
The euro edged up to USD 1.1002 from USD 1.0994.
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