European Shares Mixed On China COVID Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks were mixed on Thursday, as concerns over geopolitical tensions eased and the focus returned to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in China.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.1 percent at 429.71 after falling 1 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX gained 0.4 percent after Siemens posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit.

France's CAC 40 index slipped 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped half a percent ahead of British finance minister Jeremy Hunt's new budget to be unveiled later in the day that promises to be all pain and hardly any gain.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering shares slumped 4.6 percent in London after the thermal energy and niche pumping specialist backed its full-year guidance for adjusted operating profit, excluding contributions from the recent acquisitions.

Residential housebuilder Crest Nicholson Holdings declined 1.5 percent. The company said it expects fiscal 2022 adjusted profit before tax to be within previously guided range of 135 million pounds to 140 million pounds.

Grainger rose over 1 percent after it posted 12 percent growth in fiscal year adjusted earnings.

Investec slumped more than 3 percent. The banking and wealth-management group has unveiled a £350m share buyback program following a jump in half-year revenues and profits.

Siemens soared 7.1 percent after the German engineering and technology group said it expects higher margins from factory automation equipment and software products next year.

Bouygues plummeted 4.6 percent in Paris. The French construction and media conglomerate confirmed its forecasts for sales and profitability in 2022 after reporting higher sales in the first nine months of the year.

However, net profit attributable to the group dropped to 537 million euros from 807 million euros last year.