European Stocks Close Mixed After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday with investors assessing UK inflation data, and the outlook for interest rates.

Lingering concerns about the health of China's economy continued to weigh on sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.06%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.44% down, and France's CAC 40 shed 0.1%, while Germany's DAX crept up 0.14% and Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.06%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Turkiye closed weak.

Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Portugal ended higher, while Greece, Spain and Sweden settled flat.

In the UK market, Admiral Group rallied 7.2%. JD Sports Fashion gained about 2.85%.

B&M European Value Retail, Ocado Group, 3I Group, Associated British Foods, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Barclays and Unite Group gained 1 to 1.7%.

Natwest Group shed more than 3%. RightMove, Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining Plc, ABRDN, Land Securities, Legal & General Group, HSBC Group, Airtel Africa, Standard Chartered, Persimmon and BAE Systems lost 1 to 2.6%.

In the German market, Adidas rallied 3%. Munich RE, Henkel, HeidelbergCement, Brenntag, Siemens Energy, SAP and BMW posted moderate gains.

Bayer ended down 1.7%. Qiagen, MTU Aero Engines, Fresenius, Deutsche Boerse, Zalando, Beiersdorf and Volkswagen lost 0.5 to 1.2%.

In Paris, Publicis Groupe and Eurofins Scientific both lost more than 2%. Bouygues, Stellantis, Teleperformance and Alstom ended lower by 1 to 1.5%.

Hermes International, Michelin, Engie, Veolia, ArcelorMittal and TotalEnergies gained 0.5 to 1%.

In economic news, the euro area economy expanded as initially estimated in the second quarter despite tight credit conditions and high inflation damping demand.

Gross domestic product registered a sequential growth of 0.3% after remaining unchanged in the first quarter, flash estimate from Eurostat showed. Year-on-year, economic growth eased to 0.6% from 1.1%.

UK consumer prices rose at the slowest pace in nearly one-and-a-half years in July, the Office for National Statistics said. Consumer price inflation slowed to 6.8% in July, as expected, from 7.9% in June. This was the weakest since February 2022, when inflation was 6.2%.