European Markets Close On Mixed Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a mixed note on Tuesday, with several markets paring gains past mid afternoon, as investors digested the latest batch of economic data, and assessing the possible moves of major central banks in coming months.

Signs of progress in Ukraine peace talks aided sentiment. After U.S. officials met a Ukrainian delegation in Florida, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the revised U.S. proposal for ending the war with Russia "looks better."

According to media reports, U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has left for Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss a revised 19-point peace plan to end the Ukraine war.

The pan European Stoxx 600 crept up 0.07%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.01%, and France's CAC 40 lost 0.28%. Germany's DAX closed up by 0.51%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.31%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Russia ended weak.

Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Portugal and Spain closed higher, and Norway, Sweden and Turkiye settled flat.

In the UK market, bank stocks gained after the central bank announced that all seven of the largest lenders passed its stress tests, reduced future Tier 1 capital requirements, and signaled a review of the leverage ratio.

Airtel Africa, Lloyds Banking Group, Land Securities, Vodafone Group, Metlen Energy & Metals, Barclays, Natwest Group, Standard Chartered, Kingfisher, Legal & General, Halma, Intercontinental Hotels Group and GSK gained 1 to 2.2%.

Endeavour Mining ended nearly 5% down. Fresnillo, Berkeley Group Holdings and WPP lost 3 to 3.3%.

Whitbread, Rightmove, Auto Trader Group, Marks & Spencer, Howden Joinery Group, Antofagasta, Barratt Redrow, Ashtead Group, Unilever and Convatec Group declined sharply.

In the German market, Bayer soared more than 11% after the Trump administration supported the company's bid to get the Supreme Court to curtail litigation alleging its Roundup pesticide causes cancer.

Siemens Energy and Rheinmetall gained 3.3% and 3.1%, respectively. Deutsche Bank climbed 2.2%, while Volkswagen and Infineon gained 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively.

Symrise ended lower by about 3.2%. Brenntag, Henkel, Daimler Truck Holding, Zalando, Qiagen, Heidelberg Materials and Gea Group lost 1 to 2%.

In the French market, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Safran, STMicroElectronics and Capgemini gained 1 to 2.3%. Bouygues climbed nearly 1%.

TP, Edenred, Pernod Ricard, L'Oreal, Dassault Systemes, Kering, Saint Gobain, LVMH, Hermes International and Bureau Veritas lost 1 to 2.5%.

In economic news, Euro area consumer price inflation rose to 2.2% in November, up from 2.1% in October and slightly above market expectations of 2.1%, according to a preliminary estimate.

Among Europe's largest economies, Germany's inflation rate accelerated to 2.6%, the highest since February and above the ECB's 2% target. Meanwhile, inflation in France remained well below target, at 0.8%.

The Euro Area seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was at 6.4% in October, matching September's revised reading and slightly above market forecasts of 6.3%.

France's central government budget deficit narrowed to EUR 136.2 billion at the end of October 2025, from EUR 157.4 billion in the same month of the previous year, data from the government showed. It marked the smallest shortfall since June, as government revenues grew by 6.5% year-on-year to EUR 299.2 billion.

New car sales in France fell by 0.3% year-on-year to 132,927 units in November 2025, following a 2.9% increase the month before. From January to November, car sales were down 4.9% at 1.46 million units.

U.K. house prices logged a faster-than-expected growth in November despite budget uncertainty, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed.

House prices grew 1.8% on a yearly basis in November, slower than the 2.4% increase seen in October. Nonetheless, the annual growth was faster than the forecast of 1.4%.