European Stocks Close On Weak Note As Inflation Concerns Weigh

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed sharply lower on Friday on renewed concerns about inflation as oil prices rose sharply amid Middle East tensions. A lack of positive outcome from the U.S.-China summit weighed as well on sentiment.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he will not be much more patient with Tehran. Concerns about Hormuz Strait linger despite Iran's Revolutionary Guards' claim that around 30 vessels had crossed the strait since Wednesday evening.

Trump's tougher stance on the Middle East issue has raised fears that the US could resume strikes on Iran. Oil prices climbed nearly 4%, triggering inflation concerns.

Investors also followed the developments on the political front in the United Kingdom where Andy Burnham moved closer to a potential bid for prime minister, with MP Josh Simons saying he would step aside for the Manchester mayor.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.48%. The UK's FTSE 100 finished with a loss of 1.71%, Germany's DAX dropped 2.07% and France's CAC 40 settled 1.6% down. Switzerland's SMI bucked the trend and settled 0.05% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Türkiye closed notably lower.

Finland and Sweden finished with modest losses, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Norway ended higher.

In the UK market, miners and bank stocks closed with sharp losses.

Antofagasta and Fresnillo closed down by 10.7% and 10%, respectively. Endeavour Mining ended 7.05% down and Anglo American Plc lost 5.6%. Glencore closed 3.6% down, and Rio Tinto settled lower by 4.7%.

Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, HSBC Holdings, Natwest Group and Standard Chartered lost 1.2%-2.8%.

Centrica tumbled nearly 7% after agreeing to pay £20 million to settle an Ofgem investigation into claims that British Gas forced struggling customers onto prepayment meters.

Airtel Africa tanked nearly 11%. Severn Trent, National Grid, SSE and United Utilities Group lost 6.4%-8%. Rolls-Royce Holdings, Vodafone Group, Kingfisher, Compass Group, Metlen Energy & Metals and BAE Systems were among the other major losers.

Hiscox soared 12.3%. 3i Group climbed 4.7%, while JD Sports Fashion, Relx, BP, Diageo, Shell, The Sage Group, Experian, Haleon, Reckitt Benckiser and Standard Life gained 1%-2.5%.

In the German market, Heidelberg Materials tumbled more than 7%. Siemens, MTU Aero Engines, Infineon, Siemens Energy, Scout24 and E.On lost 3%-5.2%.

BMW, Deutsche Bank, Merck, Vonovia, RWE, Deutsche Post, Daimler Truck Holding, Siemens Healthineers, Continental, Rheinmetall, Allianz, BASF and Mercedes-Benz also ended notably lower.

SAP gained about 2%. Munich RE, Henkel, Fresenius Medical Care, Hannover RE and Deutsche Boerse posted moderate gains.

In the French market, Unibail Rodamco dropped about 6.5%. ArcelorMittal, STMicroelectronics and Safran lost 4.2%-5%.

Stellantis, Kering, BNP Paribas, Veolia Environment, Airbus, Saint-Gobain, Engie, Schneider Electric, Accor, Bouygues and Vinci also declined sharply.

Teleperformance rallied nearly 5%. Capgemini climbed about 3.5% and Dassault Systemes moved up by about 1.5%. Sanofi, Pernod Ricard and TotalEnergies also closed higher.