European Shares Mixed In Lackluster Trade

(RTTNews) - European shares traded mixed on Tuesday, as investors digested a slew of earnings updates and looked ahead to the policy meetings by the European Central Bank and Federal Reserve for directional cues.

As the initial euphoria over the election of Rishi Sunak as the U.K. Prime Minister fades, investors now await Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt's budget on October 31 to see how he plans to plug a £40bn black hole in Britain's public finances exacerbated by Truss's disastrous package of unfunded tax cuts.

In economic releases, German business confidence dropped slightly in October, survey results from ifo Institute showed earlier today. The business confidence index fell less-than-expected to 84.3 in October from 84.4 in the previous month. The score was seen at 83.3.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.2 percent at 402.43 after closing 1.4 percent higher at its highest level in nearly a week the previous day.

The German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both dropped around half a percent, while France's CAC 40 index was up 0.3 percent.

Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG surged 4.7 percent after beating profit expectations in its third quarter.

Sika AG gained 1 percent. The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority announced that it was considering a solution to address concerns relating to the merger of Sika AG and MBCC Group.

Alfa Laval plummeted 9.5 percent after the Swedish engineering group missed quarterly earnings forecasts.

HSBC Holdings plunged 7 percent after the bank reported higher-than-expected charges for possible loan losses in its third-quarter results.

IT infrastructure services provider Softcat fell about 1 percent despite reporting a rise in full-year profit and revenue.

Online beauty products seller THG soared 12.2 percent after backing its full-year outlook.

Remy Cointreau shares slumped 6.5 percent in Paris after the spirits firm said that sales and profit growth in the second half would be slower than the first half.

Air Liquide jumped nearly 4 percent. After delivering significantly higher revenue in the third quarter, the industrial gases company said it is confident in its ability to further increase its operating margin and to deliver recurring net profit growth, at constant exchange rates.

SAP climbed 3.6 percent after the German business software maker said it would miss deadline to exit Russia before the end of the year.

Chemicals maker Covestro lost 4.3 percent after cutting its 2022 earnings guidance for the third time this year.