BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks closed weak on Tuesday with several markets in the region dropping to multi-week lows, as investors digested regional economic data, and looked ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement, and U.S. jobs report, due on Thursday and Friday, respectively, for directional clues.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.54%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.37%, Germany's DAX tumbled 1.09% and France's CAC 40 closed weak by 0.75%, while Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.02%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate losses.
Iceland and Russia ended higher, while Denmark closed flat.
In the UK market, Fresnillo and Ocado Group ended down by 7.8% and 7.6%, respectively. Standard Chartered ended lower by 5.3%.
St. James's Place, Anglo American Plc, BP, Croda International, Antofagasta, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Airtel Africa, Glencore, Shell, Natwest Group, Barclays and Rio Tinto also declined sharply.
National Grid (New) soared nearly 15%. Melrose Industries, Halma, EasyJet, Severn Trent, Experian, Intertek Group, Relx, Marks & Spencer, United Utilities, Unilever, Whitbread, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Entain, Smith & Nephew, GSK, Rentokil Initial and Pearson gained 1 to 2.5%.
In the German market, Siemens Energy tumbled nearly 6%. Allianz, Commerzbank, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, HeidelbergCement, Munich RE, Hannover Rueck, Sartorius, BMW, BASF, Mercedes-Benz, Puma, Daimler Truck Holding, Bayer and Porsche lost 1 to 3.2%.
Siemens Healthineers rallied nearly 2.5%. Symrise, Deutsche Boerse, Vonovia, E.ON, Henkel and Qiagen also ended higher.
In the French market, Orange declined more than 3%. TotalEnergies, Renault, ArcelorMittal, Societe Generale, Carrefour, Safran, Publicis Groupe, BNP Paribas, Airbus Group, Teleperformance, Bouygues, Vinci and AXA lost 1 to 2.5%.
Capgemini and STMicroElectronics posted strong gains. STMicroElectronics rallied following the announcement of a long-term Silicon Carbide supply agreement with Geely Auto Group, aiming to accelerate their collaboration on SiC devices.
Edenred, Dassault Systemes, Danone and L'Oreal also closed notably higher.
On the economic front, UK retail sales grew 0.7% in May (on yearly basis), compared to the 3.9% increase seen in the same period last year, data released by the British Retail Consortium revealed.
Germany's unemployment rate remained unchanged in April, according to the results of the labor force survey, published by Destatis. The unemployment rate held steady at adjusted 3.2% in April. The number of unemployed decreased only 1,000 or 0.1% to 1.42 million. The unadjusted unemployment also totaled 1.42 million. This was up by 67,000 or 4.9% from April 2023.The jobless rate rose to 3.2% from 3.1% last year. Switzerland's consumer prices posted a steady increase in May, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The consumer price index grew 1.4% on yearly basis, the same rate as seen in April.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices advanced 0.3% due to several factors including rising prices for housing rentals and for international package holidays.
Core consumer prices gained 0.2% on month, taking the annual inflation to 1.2% in May.
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