BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - After holding firm till around mid afternoon on Wednesday, European stocks pared gains and closed weak as investors assessed the potential impact of Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. Presidential Election.
Stocks moved higher earlier in the session with investors reacting to Trump's win, and a batch of encouraging regional economic data.
Possibility of Trump imposing higher tariffs and potential strain in international relations weighed on sentiment. Investors also looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Tuesday. The Bank of England is also scheduled to announce its policy on Thursday.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.54%. Germany's DAX closed lower by 1.13%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.51% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.07%. Switzerland's SMI closed down 0.16%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate gains.
Greece, Iceland, Poland, Russia and Turkiye closed weak.
In the UK market, Ashtead Group, Barclays and IHG climbed 5.2 to 5.6%. BAE Systems, 3i Group, Marks & Spencer, Smith (DS), Pershing Square Holdings, Entain and IAG gained 3 to 5%.
Beazley rallied sharply after reiterating its full-year undiscounted combined ratio guidance of around 80%. Prudential moved higher after it posted a 11% rise in new business profit for the first nine months of fiscal 2024.
Marks & Spencer gained 2% after beating first-half profit expectations. Standard Chartered, Coca-Cola, Compass Group, Tesco, Natwest Group and Scottish Mortgage also ended notably higher.
Shares of Lancashire Holdings jumped more than 10% in early trades after the company reported a 9% year-on-year increase in GWP to $1.7bn for the first nine months of 2024. However, the stock pared gains and ended the session just marginally up.
Persimmon closed lower by more than 8.5% as it flagged concerns around signs of build costs emerging in price negotiations for 2025.
Intertek Group shed 4.7%, while Taylor Wimpey, Smith & Nephew, Fresnillo, Antofagasta, BT Group, British Land, Barratt Redrow and Berkeley Group Holdings closed down 3 to 4.1%.
Frasers Group, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Unilever, Endeavour Mining, Diageo, Vistry Group and Segro also declined sharply.
In the German market, Mercedes-Benz, Zalando and BMW lost 6 to 6.8%. BMW reported a 61% drop in its quarterly third-quarter profit.
Volkswagen, Porsche, Sartorius, RWE, Deutsche Post, Commerzbank, Adidas, Infineon, Beiersdorf, Henkel, Bayer, Symrise, Merck and Siemens Energy lost 1.7 to 5.1%.
Siemens Healthineers and Fresenius Medical Care climbed 5.6% and 5.5%, respectively. Siemens Healthineers reported revenue growth and full year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in line with estimates.
Puma ended nearly 3% down, after Q3 sales came in below expectations.
Rheinmetall, Fresenius, HeidelbergCement, MTU Aero Engines and Deutsche Bank gained 1.8 to 3%.
In the French market, Thales moved up more than 3%. Publicis Groupe, Stellantis, Essilor, STMicroElectronics, Safran, Carrrefour, Edenred, Dassault Systemes and Accor gained 0.6 to 1.8%.
Credit Agricole closed down 4.3% after reporting mixed Q3 results as weakness at some of its retail businesses overshadowed record revenues at its investment banking unit.
Pernod Ricard ended down 3.7%. BNP Paribas, L'Oreal, Teleperformance, Bouygues, Danone, Vivendi, Veolia, Air Liquide, Unibail Rodamco, Engie and TotalEnergies lost 1.4 to 3.2%.
Germany's factory orders rebounded in September on strong growth in aircraft and other transport equipment orders, data from Destatis showed. Factory orders advanced 4.2% on a monthly basis in September, in contrast to the revised 5.4% decline in August.
Economists had forecast orders to grow moderately by 1.6 percent after September's initially estimated decline of 5.8%.
The UK construction sector growth slowed notably in October but overall industry activity remained solid on civil engineering work, survey results from S&P Global showed. The construction Purchasing Managers' Index posted 54.3 in October, down from 57.2 in September. The index signaled expansion for the eighth consecutive month.
The euro area private sector stagnated in October as the contraction in manufacturing was offset by the services activity growth, final survey results published by S&P Global showed. The HCOB composite output index registered 50.0 in October signalling no change in private sector output. The reading was up from 49.6 in September and above the flash score of 49.7.
Producer prices in the euro area fell on a monthly basis for the first time in four months in September amid a slump in energy prices, figures from the statistical office Eurostat showed. Producer prices in the domestic market decreased 0.6% month-on-month, reversing a similar size gain in the previous month. This was the first decline since May.
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