European Stocks Close Lower On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed weak on Thursday, extending recent losses, as worries about China's economic woes, interest rate and inflation concerns continued to weigh on sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.9%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.63% down, Germany's DAX declined 0.71% and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.94%, while Switzerland's SMI tumbled 0.98%.

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

Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Russia and Turkiye ended higher.

In the UK market, BAE Systems ended 4.6% down after the defense firm said it had agreed to buy Ball Corp's aerospace business for about $5.55 billion in cash.

Ocado Group, Entain, ABRDN, Melrose Industries and Berkeley Group Holdings lost 3.2 to 5.6%.

Persimmon, Hiscox, Schrodders, IMI, 3i Group, Halma, Scottish Mortgage, IAG and Experian ended lower by 1.8 to 3%.

Rio Tinto climbed 1.7%. Glencore, Smith & Nephew, Lloyds Banking Group, Centrica and Admiral Group gained 0.7 to 1%.

In the German market, SAP, Infineon and Deutsche Boerse lost 2 to 2.5%. Siemens, Symrise, Daimler Truck Holding, Vonovia, Fresenius, Mercedes-Benz and RWE ended lower by 1 to 1.7%.

Munich RE, E.ON, Covestro, Commerzbank, Bayer and Deutsche Bank gained 0.4 to 1.3%.

In Paris, WorldLine, Dassault Systemes, Hermes International, Schneider Electric, LVMH and Legrand lost 2 to 3.5%.

STMicroElectronics, Capgemini, Edenred, Pernod Ricard, Saint Gobain and Kering also ended notably lower.

Sanofi, Carrefour, TotalEnergies, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas closed higher.

Dutch payments processor Adyen NV tanked 39% after first-half earnings missed expectations.

Danish hearing aid manufacturer GN Store Nord plunged nearly 10% after it warned of challenging market conditions.

In economic news, the eurozone trade surplus grew markedly at the end of the second quarter as imports fell faster than exports, Eurostat reported today.

The trade surplus rose to a seasonally adjusted EUR 12.5 billion in June from EUR 0.2 billion in May. Exports posted a monthly decline of 0.5%, while imports decreased by 5.6% in May.

On a yearly basis, exports of goods climbed 0.3%. At the same time, imports plunged 17.7%. Consequently, the trade balance swung to a surplus of EUR 23.0 billion from a deficit of EUR 27.1 billion. The expected surplus was EUR 18.3 billion.