European Stocks Close Lower For 6th Straight Session On Growth Concerns

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed lower on Wednesday, extending recent losses, as global growth concerns, rising interest rates and geopolitical tensions continued to weigh.

Investors, digesting some earnings news and the latest batch of economic data from the region, and looking ahead to U.S. consumer price inflation data, due on Thursday, chose to stay cautious and largely refrained from making significant moves.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.53% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.86%, Germany's DAX declined 0.39% and France's CAC 40 shed 0.25%, while Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.15%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed weak.

Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece and Russia ended higher, while Sweden settled flat.

In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion plunged more than 10%. Persimmon ended lower by about 6.2%. Lloyds Banking Group, Harbour Energy, B&M European Value Retail, Ocado Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Natwest Group lost 4 to 6%.

Barratt Developments declined dharply after a warning that it is preparing for tougher times ahead.

Tesco, Next, BT Group, Melrose Industries, Kingfisher, Smiths Group, Barclays, Prudential and National Grid also ended sharply lower.

Rentokil Initial rallied 2.65%. British American Tobacco surged 1.25% and AstraZeneca gained 1.12%. Diageo advanced nearly 1%.

In the German market, Vonovia, Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Wohnen, Brenntag, Continental, Adidas, HeidelbergCement, E.ON, Fresenius, Fresenius Medical Care and MTU Aero Engines lost 2 to 5.6%.

BASF, Covestro and Bayer gained 1.7 to 2%. BMW, Symrise, Infineon Technologies and Porsche Automobil also closed higher.

In Paris, Valeo, Unibail Rodamco, Bouygues, Carrefour, Thales, Safran, Legrand and Veolia ended lower by 1 to 2.5%.

LVMH rallied more than 2% after posting a brisk rise in sales in the third quarter, driven by strong local demand and returning foreign visitors in Europe, the U.S. and Japan.

Hermes International gained about 1.7%. Pernod Ricard and Sodexo posted moderate gains.

In economic news, Eurostat data showed that Eurozone industrial output rose strongly in August. Output from factories, mines and utilities rose 1.5% in August month-on-month, while economists had expected a 0.5% increase.

Year-on-year, industrial production increased 2.5% in the month.

The U.K. economy contracted unexpectedly in August on weak services and industrial production, a report from the Office for National Statistics showed. GDP shrank 0.3% month-on-month, in contrast to the revised 0.1% growth in July. GDP was forecast to remain flat after July's initially estimated growth of 0.2%.

On a yearly basis, GDP expanded at a slower pace of 2% after climbing revised 3.1% in July. This was also slower than economists' forecast of 2.4%.