European Stocks Close Lower After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks retreated after a positive start Tuesday morning, and then stayed weak for much of the day's session before finally settling in negative territory, as investors were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement due later in the week.

The ECB is widely expected to leave rates unchanged. The focus will be on the bank's statement for signals on when the central bank will consider its first interest-rate cut.

A report showing an unexpected deterioration in the euro area consumer sentiment in the month of December weighed as well on sentiment.

Preliminary data from a survey by the European Commission showed the flash consumer confidence index fell to -16.1 from -15.0 in January. Economists had expected the score to improve to -14.3.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.28%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.03%, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.34%, and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.34%, while, Switzerland's SMI dropped 1.12%.

Other markets in the region ended mixed. Denmark, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed weak.

Austria, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and Sweden ended higher, while Belgium and Iceland closed flat.

Miners found support on reports that policymakers are considering fresh stimulus measures for China's economy and stock market.

In the UK market, Admiral Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Compass Group, Unite Group, Bunzl, British American Tobacco, AstraZeneca, Centrica, Segro, Halma and Convatec Group lost 1 to 2.5%.

Standard Chartered rallied nearly 5%. Ocado Group, Anglo American Plc, Prudential, WPP, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining and Entain gained 2 to 3%.

In the German market, HeidelbergCement ended nearly 3% down. Symrise, Allianz, Brenntag, Hannover Rueck, Vonovia, Qiagen, Fresenius and Covestro lost 1.2 to 2.2%.

Zalando climbed nearly 6%, and Volkswagen gained about 5.5%. MTU Aero Engines advanced 4.2% and Siemens Energy gained about 3.7%. Porsche gained nearly 3%, while BASF, Mercedes-Benz and Puma ended higher by 1.5 to 2%.

In Paris, Sanofi ended nearly 2% down, after it agreed to buy the U.S. biotech Inhibrx Inc. for as much as $2.2 billion.

Edenred dropped about 3.3%. Engie, Sanofi, Safran, Air Liquide, Bouygues, Vinci, Airbus Group, Carrefour, Publicis Groupe and Legrand ended lower by 1 to 2%.

Alstom ended stronger by more than 4%. Teleperformance rallied 3.7%, and WorldLine gained 2.3%. Kering, STMicroElectronics, Renault, Pernod Ricard, ArcelorMittal and LVMH also ended notably higher.

The UK budget deficit narrowed in December, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed on Tuesday.

Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks declined GBP 8.4 billion from the last year to GBP 7.8 billion in December. This was the lowest December borrowing since 2019.

In the financial year-to December, borrowing totaled GBP 119.1 billion, the fourth-highest financial year-to-December borrowing on record. At the end of December, public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was GBP 2,685.6 billion or 97.7% of the annual gross domestic product.