European Shares Decline As Risk Appetite Wanes

(RTTNews) - European stocks fell on Friday to hit a two-week low as falling commodity prices and a global tech sell-off dented sentiment.

A host of factors such as deepening Sino-U.S. trade tensions, lingering uncertainty over U.S. President Joe Biden's path to victory in the presidential race, a lack of Chinese stimulus measures to revive growth and a widespread Microsoft outage that hit services from airlines, banks and financial services curbed investors' appetite for risk.

On the data front, U.K. retail sales logged a notable decline in June amid election uncertainty and poor weather, data showed.

Retail sales decreased 1.2 percent month-on-month in June, in contrast to the 2.9 percent increase posted in May, the Office for National Statistics said. Sales were expected to log a moderate 0.4 percent fall.

Separately, a monthly survey from GfK showed that British consumer sentiment improved in July. The consumer confidence index rose to -13 in July from -14 in June.

The euro area current account balance showed a surplus of EUR 37 billion in May, which was unchanged from the previous month.

The pan European STOX 600 dipped half a percent to 511.50 after falling 0.2 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX shed 0.8 percent, France's CAC 40 gave up 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

The euro traded weak following dovish comments from ECB officials.

ECB Governing Council member and Bank of France President, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, said today there is more uncertainty on growth than a few months ago and that two additional interest-rate cuts in 2024 sound reasonable.

Similarly, ECB Governing Council member Gediminas Šimkus also said he agreed with the idea of having two more cuts this year as markets predict.

In corporate news, Electrolux AB, a Swedish home appliance major, surged 5.5 percent after it swung to a much larger than expected profit in the second quarter.

Danske Bank, Denmark's biggest lender, soared 8 percent after second-quarter profit topped forecasts and the bank said it would return an expected 5.5 billion Danish kroner ($806.6 million) to shareholders later this year.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore all fell around 2 percent in London on Chinese demand concerns.

Warehouse giant SEGRO fell about 1 percent after selling a portfolio of four logistics warehouses in Italy for a total of €327 mln.

Germany's Sartorius plunged 16 percent after the pharmaceutical equipment supplier cut its full-year guidance.