European Markets Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The major European markets finished lower on Tuesday, denting the solid gains from the previous session.

The markets opened under pressure, made back some ground midday but then faded into the stretch to end solidly in the red.

The early selling pressure came after inflation figures from France and Spain came in hotter than expected for February, which may force the European Central Bank to take a more aggressive stance with interest rates.

The DAX in Germany was down 16.29 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 15,365.14, while the FTSE in London sank 58.83 points or 0.74 percent to close at 7,876.28 and the CAC 40 in France fell 27.62 points or 0.38 percent to end at 7,267.93.

In Germany, Bayer plummeted 3.91 percent, while Fresenius Medical tumbled 3.35 percent, Deutsche Bank surged 2.16 percent, Covestro jumped 1.68 percent, BASSF rallied 1.22 percent, Infineon slumped 0.87 percent, Siemens Energy added 0.45 percent, Heidelberg Cement shed 0.40 percent and Deutsche Telekom and Volkswagen both fell 0.14 percent.

In London, Aberdeen surged 5.25 percent, while St. James Place rallied 3.60 percent, British American Tobacco tumbled 2.16 percent, BAE Systems declined 1.60 percent, Rentokil retreated 1.35 percent, Vodafone slumped 0.93 percent, Centrica advanced 0.81 percent, Scottish Mortgage Investment added 0.76 percent, Haleon lost 0.56 percent and Tesco gained 0.31 percent.

In France, Worldline jumped 2.38 percent, while Societe Generale spiked 2.00 percent, Carrefour improved 1.99 percent, Sanofi stumbled 1.83 percent, Veolia Environment dropped 1.53 percent, BNP Paribas collected 1.05 percent, Engie slumped 0.92 percent, Credit Agricole gained 0.82 percent, Orange fell 0.61 percent and Vivendi rose 0.19 percent.

In economic news, Germany's import price inflation eased to a near two-year low in January due to slower growth in energy and intermediate goods prices, data released by Destatis showed on Tuesday. Import prices grew 6.6 percent from the last year, weaker than the 12.6 percent increase in December.

France consumer price inflation bounced back to a three-month high in February and consumer spending rebounded due to the scaling back of state support for energy bills, separate releases from the statistical office INSEE revealed Tuesday. The statistical office also confirmed that the French economy avoided a contraction at the end of 2022, underpinned by the positive contribution from foreign trade.

The Danish economy grew in the fourth quarter of 2022 after stagnating in the previous three months, boosted by the strong performance of the pharmaceutical industry and investments, while household consumption decreased, preliminary data from Statistics Denmark showed Tuesday. Gross domestic product grew 0.9 percent from the previous three months. The third quarter outcome was revised to stagnation from 0.3 percent growth reported initially.

Finland's economy contracted more than initially estimated in the fourth quarter of 2022 as rising inflationary pressures halted household spending along with a decline in foreign demand, figures from Statistics Finland showed on Tuesday. Gross domestic product fell a seasonally and working-day-adjusted 0.6 percent sequentially in Q4, following a revised 0.1 percent drop in the third quarter.