Major European Markets Close Slightly Weak

(RTTNews) - The major European markets ended slightly weak on Tuesday after a choppy ride as investors reacted to the latest batch of economic reports from Europe and the consumer price inflation data from the U.S., and awaited monetary policy announcements from several central banks, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.21%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX edged down 0.03% and 0.02%, respectively. France's CAC 40 dropped 0.11%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.19%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed weak.

Belgium, Greece, Ireland and Turkiye ended higher, while Netherlands settled flat.

In the UK market, Hargreaves Lansdown dropped more than 6% after the U.K. regulator warned of possible intervention on client charges.

Anglo American Plc and BT ended down 4.4% and 4.1%, respectively. Pennon, Vodafone, Fresnillo, Admiral Group, Ds Smith, Rentokil Initial, Prudential, Persimmon, St. James's Place, Segro, Ashtead Group, Imperial Brands and BP lost 1 to 2.3%.

Royal Mail soares nearly 12%. TUI gained about 3.3%, while Rolls-Royce Holdings, Easyjet and Right Move gained 2.2 to 2.5%.

Legal & General, Burberry Group, IAG, IHG, DCC, Relx, Johnson Matthey, BAE Systems and M&G advanced 1 to 1.7%. AstraZeneca gained about 0.8% after it agreed to buy Icosavax Inc, boosting its vaccine portfolio with an 'innovative' treatment for respiratory viruses.

In the German market, Zalando ended down more than 4%. Siemens Energy and Merck both drifted down by about 3.3%. Commerzbank and MTU Aero Engines lost 2.1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Hannover Rueck, HeidelbergCement and Beiersdorf ended down 1.4 to 2%.

In Paris, Unibail Rodamco and Alstom lost 2.5% and 2.4%, respectively. WorldLine drifted down by about 1%. Automaker Renault ended down 0.8% after saying it would sell 5% tranche of Nissan stake under a share buyback program.

Publicis Groupe, Dassault Systemes, Saint-Gobain, Safran and Air Liquide gained 1 to 1.5%.

On the economic front, data from Destatis revealed Germany's wholesale prices decreased 3.6% on a yearly basis in November but slower than the 4.2% decline seen in October. Wholesale prices have been falling since last April.

Destatis said the main reason for the current decline is a base effect due to the high price increases in the previous year due to the war in Ukraine.

Germany's investor confidence strengthened to a nine-month high in December despite the current budget crisis, survey results from the think tank ZEW showed. The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment rose to 12.8 in December from 9.8 in November. This was the highest score since March and also came in above forecast of 8.8.

The UK wage growth slowed more than expected in three months to October raising expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates as early as next June. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the unemployment rate stood at 4.2% in three months to October. This was unchanged from the preceding period and also matched expectations.

Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. consumer prices inched up in line with economist estimates in the month of November, edging up by 0.1%, after coming in unchanged in October. The uptick matched expectations.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.3% in November after edging up by 0.2% in October. The increase in core prices also came in line with estimates.

The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth slipped to 3.1% in November from 3.2% in October, while the annual rate of core consumer price growth was unchanged at 4%.