European Shares Reverse Early Gains In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - European stocks gave up early gains to edge lower on Tuesday as investors await this week's Fed and BoE meetings.

Market participants largely expect a 50-basis-point hike by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

The Bank of England is seen raising interest rates by a modest 25 basis points on Thursday despite Monday's data showing a contraction in the country's GDP in April.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slipped half a percent to 410.35 after tumbling 2.4 percent to its lowest since March 7 on Monday.

The German DAX dipped 0.4 percent, France's CAC 40 index shed 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent.

Banks topped the gainers list on expectations that they would benefit from higher interest rates.

Drug discovery and development company Evotec fell over 2 percent after it entered into a collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV.

Business software group SAP rose half a percent after U.S. firm Oracle Corp exceeded estimates on the top and bottom lines for its fiscal fourth quarter.

Dutch paints and coatings maker Akzo Nobel slumped almost 6 percent after the company said lockdowns in China dented sales of paints and coatings in the second quarter.

France's Atos plunged 22 percent on news of restructuring and CEO exit.

Energy stocks traded higher, with BP Plc rising around 1 percent as oil prices rose in volatile trade.

Entain fell about 1 percent after the gambling group agreed to buy online sports betting and gaming operator BetCity in a deal worth up to 850 million euros ($887 million) to build its presence in the Dutch market.

Distribution and services group Bunzl was moving lower after it entered into an agreement to acquire German cleaning and hygiene business Hygi.de for an undisclosed sum.

In economic releases, German consumer price inflation rose to 7.9 percent in May from 7.4 percent in April, final data from Destatis showed. The rate came in line with the flash estimate published on May 30.

Another report from Destatis showed that wholesale prices logged a strong double-digit growth of 22.9 percent annually after rising 23.8 percent in April.

The U.K. jobless rate rose in May as the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell by less than expected, despite continued gains in overall employment levels.

The Office for National Statistics said that the claimant count fell by 19,700, while the jobless rate rose to 3.8 percent of the population.

The jobless rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 3.8 percent in three months to April but remained above the expected 3.6 percent.