European Shares Decline On Rate-hike Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks were moving lower on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged as widely expected, but the latest set of projections suggested there could be at least one increase to its main rate this year.

Elsewhere, the Swiss National Bank left its policy rate unchanged at zero percent despite rising inflation.

The Bank of England is set to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.75 percent later today.

Meanwhile, official data showed earlier in the day that the U.K. unemployment rate ticked down to 4.9 percent in the three months to April from 5.0 percent in the three months to March. Payroll employment increased after three consecutive monthly declines.

Across the Atlantic, May's leading indicators, June's Philadelphia Fed Index reading and weekly jobless claims data will be in the spotlight later today.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.6 percent at 635.70 after rising half a percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX slipped 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 was marginally lower and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 1.1 percent.

French cosmetics group L'Oreal fell more than 1 percent after it signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in India's personal care startup Innovist.

Carmaker Renault dropped nearly 1 percent after acquiring full ownership of Flexis.

FirstGroup shares soared 6.5 percent as the British transport operator reported solid annual results and announced a new £100 million share buyback.

Informa, the world's largest exhibitions group, surged 2.2 percent after reporting 6.4 percent underlying revenue growth in a five-month trading update and backing its annual outlook.

Tesco, U.K.'s biggest retailer, lost 2.8 percent after sales growth slowed sharply in the fiscal first quarter.

Shares of energy giants BP Plc and Shell were down around 2 percent as Brent crude futures fell toward $78 a barrel amid easing geopolitical tensions.