European Stocks Close Broadly Lower After Choppy Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly lower on Tuesday after a choppy session, with investors staying somewhat cautious ahead of the release of a slew of crucial economic data, including consumer and producer price inflation from the U.S., and the monetary policy meeting of the European Central Bank.

Bank of England policymaker Catherine Mann warned late Monday that it's too soon for the Bank of England to stop raising rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.18%. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.54% and 0.35%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.41%, while Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.14%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands and Sweden ended weak.

Austria, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain and Turkiye closed higher, while Portugal ended flat.

In the UK market, Smurfit Kappa Group shares tanked more than 10%. Antofagasta declined about 4%. Croda International, Johnson Matthey, Ds Smith, CRH, Mondi, Persimmon, Melrose Industries, Barratt Developments and Informa lost 1 to 2.2%.

Associated British Foods rallied 5.5%. Easyjet, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Vodafone, BT, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest Group, Carnival, AstraZeneca, TUI, Next, Standard Chartered, J Sainsbury, IAG, British American Tobacco and HSBC Holdings gained 1 to 3.3%.

In the German market, MTU Aero Engines plunged nearly 7%. Sartorius and Merck ended lower by 3.25% and 3%, respectively.

Henkel ended nearly 2.5% down. Adidas, SAP, BASF, Qiagen, Zalando, Vonovia, Siemens Energy, RWE and Bayer lost 1 to 2%.

Commerzbank gained about 2%. Hannover Rueck, Fresenius Medical Care, Munich RE, Mercedes-Benz, Allianz, Volkswagen and Infineon gained 0.7 to 1.3%.

In Paris, Airbus Group, Dassault Systemes, Publicis Groupe, WorldLine, L'Oreal, ArcelorMittal, Danone, Edenred and Air Liquide lost 1 to 2.4%.

Stellantis climbed 2.6%. Vinci, Credit Agricole, Carrefour, Bouygues, TotalEnergies and Societe Generale gained 1 to 1.6%.

On the economic front, despite the rising unemployment, the UK wage growth registered its strongest growth on record in the three months to July adding pressure on the Bank of England to hike the interest rate further at its upcoming meeting this month. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the three months to July from 4.2% in the preceding period.

Germany's wholesale prices fell for the fifth month in a row in August, driven by a slump in prices of mineral oil products, preliminary figures from the statistical office Destatis showed.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, declined 2.7% year-on-year after a 2.8% fall in the previous month. The index has been decreasing since April. Compared to the previous month, the WPI rose 0.2%, reversing a 0.2% fall in July. Economists had forecast a 0.1% drop.

Germany's economic sentiment unexpectedly improved in September as interest rates are estimated to have peaked in the euro area and the U.S., but financial market experts' assessment of the current situation turned more pessimistic, survey data from the ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research showed.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment unexpectedly rose to a three-month high of -11.4 in September from -12.3 in August. The score was forecast to fall to -15. By contrast, the current situation index declined sharply to -79.4 from -71.3 in the previous month. This was the lowest score in three years and also weaker than the -75.0 forecast.

Germany's residential construction sector crisis continued to intensify in August with the number of project cancellations hitting a new high, mainly due to rising costs and higher interest rates, a survey from the ifo Institute revealed Tuesday. In August, 20.7% of companies reported canceled housing projects, up from 18.9% in the previous month.