European Stocks Close Lower As Investors Await Fresh Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly lower on Monday, giving up recent gains, as investors stayed cautious ahead of some crucial U.S. and European economic data.

Inflation reports from Germany, France and Spain along with the U.S. Federal Reserve's favored core measure of personal consumption expenditure prices are due on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.37%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.29% and France's CAC 40 settled lower by 0.46%. Germany's DAX edged up 0.02%, while Switzerland's SMI closed down 0.38%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Russia ended weak.

Iceland and Russia closed on a firm note, while Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden ended flat.

In the UK market, Ocado Group dropped about 7%. St. James's Place ended nearly 4% down, while Anglo American Plc, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Taylor Wimpey, Rio Tinto and Centrica lost 2.5 to 3.4%.

Bunzl ended more down more than 2.5% after the company said it margins may be hit in the first quarter. The company also announced that is has signed an agreement to acquire Nisbets in the U.K. and Pamark in Finland.

B&M European Value Retail, Glencore, Severn Trent, BT, SSE, Fresnillo and Antofagasta also ended notably lower.

Rolls-Royce Holdings ended more than 2.5% up. Admiral Group, Beazley, Lloyds Banking Group, Convatec Group, Barclays, Rentokil Initial, Reckitt Benckiser and BAE Systems advanced 1 to 1.5%.

In the German market, RWE, Merck, Zalando, Vonovia, Continental, Sartorius and Deutsche Post lost 1 to 1.7%.

Fresenius Medical Care rallied more than 2.5%. HeidelbergCement, SAP and Siemens Healthineers gained 1.5 to 2%, while Fresenius, BMW, Symrise, Siemens Energy and Deutsche Boerse ended higher by 0.7 to 1.1%.

In Paris, Carrefour ended down nearly 4%. Veolia ended lower by about 2.5%, and Alstom settled nearly 2% down. BNP Paribas, Teleperformance, Stellantis, Edenred, Engie, ArcelorMittal, LVMH and Societe Generale lost 1 to 1.6%.

Thales climbed about 2.6%, and WorldLine gained nearly 2%. Eurofins Scientific, Renault and AXA also closed higher.

On the economic front, UK retail sales declined at the slowest pace in the current ten-month run of falls in February, survey results from the Confederation of British Industry showed.

The retail sales balance rose to -7% in the year to February from -50% in January, the Distributive Trades Survey revealed. The balance was also better than economists' forecast of -33%. However, a net 15% of retailers expect sales to fall in March.