European Stocks Close On Mixed Note After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks recovered from early weakness and settled on a mixed note on Wednesday with investors largely making cautious moves amid renewed concerns about trade tensions following export restrictions on Nvidia's AI chips to China, and U.S. President Donald Trump's order for an investigation into potential tariffs on critical mineral imports.

A profit warning by ASML, and Nvidia's announcement that it would incur $5.5 billion in charges due to new U.S. export controls also dampened investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, markets awaited the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement on Thursday. The ECB is widely expected to lower interest rate by 25 basis points.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.19%. France's CAC 40 edged down 0.07%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX climbed 0.32% and 0.27%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI closed down 0.1%.

Among other markets in Europe, Italy, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended on firm note. Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland and Norway edged up marginally.

Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and Turkiye closed on a weak note, while Greece and Poland ended marginally down.

In the UK market, Endeavour Mining climbed nearly 6.5%. Shell, Associated British Foods, Barratt Redrow, Admiral Group, Persimmon, Fresnillo, Land Securities, BP, National Grid and Diageo gained 2 to 3%.

Bunzl tanked 25.6% on weak results. The specialist distribution and services Group reported significantly lower adjusted operating profit in its first quarter, despite slightly higher revenues. The first-quarter profit was below expectations, and the company reduced its fiscal 2025 guidance.

In its update on trading for the period since December 31, the company reported that Group revenue in the first quarter increased 0.8% on a reported basis and 2.6% at constant exchange rates. Meanwhile, underlying revenue declined 0.9%.

Diploma, International Capital Group, Informa, Melrose Industries and JD Sports Fashion lost more than 3%. WH Smith shares ended nearly 1% down. The group posted a first-half loss before tax of 42 million pounds compared to profit of 28 million pounds, last year. Loss per share was 33.6 pence compared to profit of 13.0 pence.

In the German market, Sartorius zoomed nearly 10%. The pharmaceutical and lab equipment company reported that its net results for the first quarter increased to 48.5 million euros from 36.9 million euros in the same quarter.

Quarterly underlying net profit increased by 21.4% to 85 million euros from 70 million euros in the first three months of the previous year. Underlying earnings per ordinary share amounted to 1.22 euros up from 1.01 euros in the prior year.

Commerzbank and E.ON both gained about 2%. Deutsche Telekom, Allianz, RWE, Beiersdorf and Fresenius closed higher by 1 to 1.3%.

Brenntag ended down by about 1.7% and Qiagen closed 1.3% down. Infineon Technologies, Siemens Energy and Henkel also ended notably lower.

In the French market, TotalEnergies, Bouygues, Engie, Pernod Ricard, Vinci, BNP Paribas, Kering, Orange and Credit Agricole gained 1 to 2.2%.

Publicis Groupe ended down by about 3.6%. Michelin, Sanofi, Renault, Stellantis, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, STMicroElectronics and Saint-Gobain lost 1 to 2%.

In economic news, data from the Offie for National Statistics said UK consumer price inflation dropped more than expected to a three-month low in March ahead of an increase in energy bills in April.

Consumer prices registered an annual growth of 2.6%, slower than the 2.8% increase in February. Prices were forecast to climb 2.7%.

Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, weakened to 3.4%, in line with expectations, from 3.5% in the previous month.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.3% in March compared with an increase of 0.4% in February. Inflation was seen unchanged at 0.4%.

Eurozone inflation slowed in March, as initially estimated, as energy prices declined for the first time in four months and services inflation softened for the third straight month.

The harmonized index of consumer prices climbed 2.2% on a yearly basis in March, slightly slower than the 2.3% rise in February, final data from Eurostat showed. The rate came in line with the flash estimate released on April 1.

Core inflation that excludes prices of food, alcohol and tobacco, weakened to 2.4%, in line with the estimate, from 2.6% in the previous month.

The euro area current account surplus declined in February, falling to EUR 34 billion from EUR 40 billion a month earlier, data from the European Central Bank showed.

In twelve months to February, the current account surplus totalled EUR 411 billion or 2.7% of GDP. This was up from EUR 299 billion or 2% of GDP a year earlier.