European Stocks Close Mixed After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday with investors largely making cautious moves, focusing on U.S. debt ceiling talks.

Investors awaited a pivotal meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling and monitored political developments in Greece.

U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has reiterated that the June 1 deadline for raising the federal debt ceiling is non-negotiable.

As negotiations continue, some lawmakers remain optimistic that a deal will be reached before the deadline.

The focus was also on Greek election results. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis won the national election but failed to reach the majority.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.01%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.18%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 shed 0.32% and 0.18%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended lower by 0.15%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, Russia, Spain ended higher.

Finland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak, while Belgium and Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, Standard Chartered climbed more than 3%. Admiral Group, Ocado Group, BT Group, Flutter Entertainment, Burberry Group, Aviva, Natwest Group, Scottish Mortgage, RightMove, Phoenix Group Holdings and HSBC Holdings gained 1 to 2.6%.

Frasers Group declined 2.22%. Convatec Group, Vodafone Group, Halma and Smiths Group lost 1.4 to 1.8%.

In Paris, Dassault Systemes surged nearly 4.5%. WorldLine, Orange, Kering and Hermes International gained 1 to 1.8%.

BNP Paribas tumbled more than 4%. Essilor, Bouygues and Sanofi ended lower by 1.3 to 1.7%.

In the German market, Commerzbank gained nearly 2.5%. Adidas, Porsche and Puma gained 1.5 to 2%. E.ON, Deutsche Bank and HeidelbergCement also ended with notable gains.

Sartorius ended lower by about 1.4% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "equal-weight", citing destocking risk.

Munich RE, Continental, Brenntag, Bayer, Siemens, Henkel and Fresenius Medical Care ended lower by 1 to 1.7%.

On the economic front, pessimism among euro area consumers declined for a second straight month in May, but the improvement was less than expected, preliminary survey results from the European Commission showed.

The seasonally adjusted flash consumer confidence rose to -17.4 from -17.5 in April. Economists had forecast a score of -17.0.

Eurozone construction output declined for the first time in three months in March, data from Eurostat revealed.

Production in the construction sector decreased 2.4% on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 1.7% rise in February and the 3.7% gain in January. This was the first fall so far this year.

Production in both building and civil engineering declined in March. Building construction posted a monthly fall of 2.4% and civil engineering registered a 2.3% decrease.

On a yearly basis, total construction output was down 1.5% in March after a 2.1% rise a month ago.

Switzerland's industrial production continued to expand in the first quarter, though at a slower pace compared to the previous quarter amid a slowdown in manufacturing growth and further contraction in construction output, the Federal Statistical Office reported.

Industrial production rose 3.4% year-over-year in the first quarter, slower than the 5.9% gain in the fourth quarter.