European Shares Extend Losses As Growth, Rate Worries Weigh

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded lower on Friday to extend recent losses amid concerns over increasing Sino-U.S. tensions, slowing global growth and uncertainty over the path of U.S. monetary policy.

On a light day on the economic front, data showed German inflation slowed marginally in August as estimated but the rate remained elevated due to the increases in energy and food prices.

Consumer price inflation slowed to 6.1 percent in August from 6.2 percent in July, according to final data from Destatis.

The statistical office confirmed the provisional estimate published on August 30.

Separate data out of France revealed that French industrial output rebounded in July, increasing by 0.8 percent month-on-month following a 0.9 percent fall in June.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down half a percent at 451.49, extending losses for an eighth consecutive session.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both gave up around 0.6 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down half a percent.

Saipem added 1 percent after the Italian energy services group clinched two new offshore contracts in Ivory Coast and Italy worth a total of around €850m ($910m).

British property developer and house-builder Berkeley Group Holdings fell about 1 percent despite reaffirming its earnings guidance.

Restaurant Group jumped more than 5 percent after Chairman, Ken Hanna announced his decision not to seek re-election at the next AGM during 2024 due to personal reasons. Computer services provider Computacenter soared 7 percent.

The corporate and public sector technology provider reported 'extraordinary growth" in first-half revenue, driven particularly by growth in Technology Sourcing revenue.

Capgemini SE, an IT and consulting company, was marginally lower in Paris after it signed an agreement to acquire the Financial Crime Compliance or FCC division of Exiger, a software as a service firm.

Casino fell more than 2 percent. Euronext said the debt-ridden French supermarket retailer will be excluded from Paris' SBF-120 equity index of major companies.