European Shares Mixed As Euro Extends Gains On Hawkish ECB Comments

(RTTNews) - European stocks traded mixed on Friday, a day after the minutes of the European Central Bank meeting struck a hawkish tone indicating that rates would need to rise further to curb inflation.

The euro rose for the fourth straight day against the dollar after ECB's Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said that "incoming data so far suggest that the room for slowing down the pace of rate adjustments remains limited".

Investors also fretted about rising COVID-19 cases in China, with the country logging a record high increase in daily infections.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down 0.2 percent at 440.11 after rising half a percent to hit a fresh three-month high on Thursday on signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve could temper its pace of rate hikes.

The German DAX slipped 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 index was marginally lower while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 inched up 0.2 percent.

Orange SA shares rose half a percent. The French telecommunications company has concluded a long-term agreement with 1&1 AG for the provision of international roaming services for the 1&1 mobile network.

Devro soared 60 percent in London after it has agreed to a 540-million-pound ($654.3 million) takeover by Saria SE & Co. KG through its subsidiary Saria.

SSE gained about 1 percent after it agreed to sell a 25 percent stake in its electricity transmission grid business to the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board.

LSL Property Services slumped 10 percent. The provider of residential-property services said that it expects overall 2022 performance to miss prior expectations.

In economic releases, official data showed Germany's economy expanded more than initially estimated in the third quarter, despite weaker global growth, delivery bottlenecks and rising inflation.

GDP grew 0.4 percent sequentially in the third quarter, faster than the 0.1 percent rise in the second quarter. The rate was revised up from 0.3 percent estimated on October 28.

Additionally, survey results from the market research group GfK showed that German consumer confidence is set to rise moderately in December.

The forward-looking consumer confidence index rose to -40.2 from -41.9 in November. Elsewhere, France's consumer confidence improved slightly in November, in line with expectations, survey figures from the statistical office Insee showed.

The consumer confidence index rose to 83.0 in November from 82.0 in the previous month. However, the index was well below its long-term average of 100.