European Stocks Close Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended mostly lower on Monday as weak commodity prices triggered some heavy selling in oil and mining sectors.

Despite easing concerns about the outlook for interest rates, investors stayed cautious and refrained from making significant moves, ahead of some crucial economic data, including PMI and inflation readings from Germany, and jobs data from the U.S.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.09%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.22% down, and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.18%. Germany's DAX edged up 0.04%, while Switzerland's SMI climbed up 0.6%.

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

Belgium, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

In the UK market, Anglo American Plc, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Johnson Matthey, Antofagasta and Burberry Group ended lower by 2.3 to 4%.

United Utilities, M&G, Schrodders, ICP, Melrose Industries, Flutter Entertainment, Smurfit Kappa Group, Ferguson, BP, Smiths, Royal Dutch Shell and Centrica lost 1 to 2%.

Carnival surged more than 5%. TUI gained about 3.5% and Rolls-Royce Holdings advanced 3.2%.

JD Sports Fashion, BT, WPP, Barratt Developments, Pearson, Compass Group, Ds Smith, Natwest Group, Phoenix Holdings and GlaxoSmithKline gained 1 to 2.3%.

In the German market, MTU Aero Engines ended more than 2% down. Covestro, Siemens Healthineers, Bayer, Porsche, Brenntag and Continental ended lower by 0.8 to 1.25%.

Merck rallied nearly 2%. Fresenius Medical Care gained about 1.5%, while Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, BASF and Puma posted moderate gains.

In Paris, Teleperformance ended lower by about 3.2%. Alstom, Orange, TotalEnergies and Thales closed lower by 1.6 to 3%, while Safran and STMicroElectronics drifted down 1% and 0.8%, respectively.

Kering, Unibail Rodamco, Eurofins Scientific, BNP Paribas, Sanofi, Edenred, Stellantis and Societe Generale posted sharp to moderate gains.

In economic news, Euro area investor sentiment rose for a second straight month in December, raising expectations for an economic turnaround at the start of the next year, survey data from the behavioral research institute Sentix showed.

The Sentix investor confidence index climbed to -16.8 from -18.6 in November. Economists had forecast a reading of -15.0. The score was the highest since May this year.

Data released by Destatis showed exports from Germany unexpectedly fell by 0.2% in October according to preliminary figures. Economists were looking for a 1.1% gain. Imports declined 1.2%, compared with market expectations of a 0.8% surge.

Switzerland's consumer price inflation eased unexpectedly in November to the lowest level in just over two years amid a slowdown in prices in a broad number of categories, the Federal Statistical Office reported Monday.

The consumer price index, or CPI, climbed 1.4% year-over-year in November, after a 1.7% stable rate of increase in October. Meanwhile, economists had expected inflation to remain stable at 1.7%.