European Shares Extend Declines On Rate Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded lower on Thursday amid persistent fears of higher U.S. interest rates and concerns over China's beleaguered property market.

Spanish inflation accelerated for a second straight month in September due mainly to higher electricity and fuel prices, preliminary data showed earlier in the day. German inflation data is awaited later in the day.

A measure of Eurozone Economic Sentiment dropped slightly from 93.6 to 93.3 in September, extending declines for the fifth month.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down half a percent at 444.52 after closing 0.2 percent lower on Wednesday.

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

Airline Ryanair fell 2.3 percent as it announced a number of cuts to its winter schedule due to delays in the delivery of Boeing aircraft.

Discount retailer Pepco Group N.V. lost 12 percent after cutting its profit outlook for the second time in a month.

Spanish bank Banco Santander advanced 1.6 percent after an announcement that it is going to buyback around 1.3 billion of shares.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey fell over 2 percent in London and Barratt Developments plummeted 6.5 percent on concerns over rising borrowing costs.

BP Plc and Shell were seeing modest gains while TotalEnergies rose over 1 percent after crude prices surged to the highest level in more than a year.

British drinks giant Diageo was down 0.7 percent despite backing its annual outlook. 888 Holdings, a betting and gaming company, plunged 17 percent after trimming its full-year earnings guidance.

Lender HSBC Holdings edged down slightly after reports that it is likely to buy Citigroup's China consumer wealth management business.

Insurer Phoenix Group Holdings lost 6.2 percent after reporting a narrow pre-tax loss for the first half of 2023.

China-exposed LVMH, Kering and Hermes International were seeing modest losses in Paris amid concerns over the health of China's property sector and ahead of purchasing managers' index data from China, due over the weekend.