European Stocks Close On Mixed Note Ahead Of Central Bank Policy Meetings

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a mixed note on Tuesday after a somewhat volatile session as investors digested the data on eurozone inflation, and looked ahead to UK inflation report, and policy meetings of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan.

The Swiss National Bank, the Norges Bank and the Riskbank are also scheduled to announce their monetary policies during the course of this week.

Headline annual inflation in the U.K. is seen rising to 7% in August, from 6.8% in the previous month. Core inflation is however seen edging down to 6.8%, from 6.9% a month earlier.

Given the inflationary situation, the Bank of England is widely expected to raise rates by another 25 basis points in the review to be announced on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.04%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.09% and 0.08%, respectively, while Germany's DAX ended 0.4% down, and Switzerland's SMI finished lower by 0.2%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye ended higher.

Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia and Sweden closed weak.

In the UK market, Hargreaves Lansdown rallied nearly 5%. TUI surged 2.75%. 3i, Lloyds Banking Group, WPP, Persimmon, Phoenix Holdings, Centrica, Land Securities, Smurfit Kappa Group, Associated British Foods, HSBC Holdings, ICP, BP and ITV gained 1 to 2%.

Kingfisher plunged more than 12%. Burberry Group ended lower by 4%, while Just Eat Takeaway.com, Antofagasta, Easyjet, Entain, Halma, Croda International, Scottish Mortgage, BT and Intertek Group shed 1.5 to 3%.

In the German market, Vonovia gained 3.6%. Volkswagen, HeidelbergCement, Deutsche Boerse, E.ON, Fresenius, Continental, Beiersdorf and BMW advanced 1 to 2.2%.

Deutsche Post lost about 6.5%, Sartorius declined 5.7% and Zalando ended 4.7% down. MTU Aero Engines, Adidas, Merck, Siemens, Covestro and Siemens Healthineers ended lower by 1.4 to 3.2%.

In Paris, Renault, Edenred, TotalEnergies, BNP Paribas, Stellantis, Engie, Carrefour, Alstom and Publicis Groupe gained 1 to 2%.

Dassault Systemes, Hermes International and L'Oreal lost 1.7%, 1.6% and 1%, respectively.

On the economic front, final data from Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation slowed slightly in August, coming in at 5.2%, down from 5.3% in July. Initially, the rate was seen unchanged at 5.3%.

However, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, was confirmed at 5.3%. The core rate eased from 5.5% in July.

Data released by the European Central Bank showed the euro area current account surplus declined to EUR 21 billion in July from EUR 36 billion in the previous month. The decline was largely due to the fall in the visible trade surplus. In the same period last year, the account posted a EUR 22 billion deficit.

Switzerland's foreign trade surplus increased in August as exports rose faster than imports, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed on Tuesday.

The trade surplus rose to CHF 3.21 billion in August from CHF 2.55 billion in the previous month. In real terms, exports rebounded 5.9% monthly in August versus a 4.9% decline in July. Similarly, imports logged a 1.5% gain in August, in contrast to a 1.8% gain in July.

In nominal terms, exports and imports grew by 3.8% and 6.6%, respectively.