European Stocks Close Lower As Political Concerns Weigh

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Monday, weighed down by political concerns after French President Emmanuel Macron called for snap legislative elections later in June after the European Union elections showed a broader shift towards right-wing and far-right parties.

Also, investors were a bit cautious, looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, and the crucial U.S. consumer price inflation data, due later in the week.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down by 0.27%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed lower by 0.2%, Germany's DAX drifted down 0.34%, and France's CAC 40 settled 1.35% down. Switzerland's SMI lost 0.95%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak.

Denmark and Netherlands ended higher, while Greece, Iceland and Poland closed flat.

In the UK market, Rentokil Initial, Diploma, Admiral Group, Convatec Group, Smith (DS), Diageo, Smurfit Kappa Group, Haleon, Croda International, Reckitt Benckiser, Ocado Group, Natwest Group and BT Group lost 1.6 to 3%.

M&G climbed nearly 2.5%. Rolls-Royce Holdings, BP, Ashtead Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, Glencore, Standard Chartered and Pershing Square Holdings posted sharp to moderate gains.

In the German market, Porsche, Bayer, RWE, Covestro, Commerzbank, BASF, Puma, Fresenius Medical Care and Deutsche Boerse lost 1 to 2.5%.

Siemens Energy, Sartorius and MTU Aero Engines ended sharply higher.

In the French market, Societe Generale tanked more than 7%. Edenred tumbled about 6.5%. Vinci, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Engie, Bouygues, Saint Gobain, Hermes International, AXA, LVMH, Carrefour and Veolia ended lower by 2 to 5.5%.

On the economic front, euro area investor sentiment continued its recovery trend in June to hit the highest since early 2022 but the momentum remained weak as the economy still struggle to reach the level that prevailed before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, a closely watched survey showed.

The economic confidence index rose to +0.3 in June from -3.6 in May, the behavioral research institute Sentix said. The reading was forecast to remain negative in June, at -1.5.

A report compiled by S&P Global showed UK permanent staff appointments fell for the twentieth consecutive month in May but the pace of decrease was the softest since March 2023.

Recruitment consultants cited delayed decision making and a lack of demand amongst companies as reasons for the fall in recruitment activity, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs revealed.