European Stocks Close Slightly Higher After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed slightly higher on Friday with investors assessing the likely move of the Federal Reserve following the latest data on consumer price growth, digesting the data from the European region, and monitoring the developments around the Red Sea.

The mood was largely cautious with traders largely away on the sidelines ahead of the long weekend.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended up 0.14%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.04%, Germany's DAX gained 0.11%, and France's CAC ended down 0.03%. Switzerland's SMI ended higher by 0.12%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Russia ended higher.

Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands and Turkiye closed weak, while Poland, Spain and Sweden ended flat.

In the UK market, Lloyds Banking Group climbed nearly 2%. Pennon, Persimmon, RightMove, Convatec Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, M&G, Taylor Wimpey and HSBC Holdings gained 0.8 to 1.5%.

EnQuest surged more than 6%. The independent energy company has agreed to sell 15% interest each in the Bressay field and the EnQuest Producer floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO), both located in the UK North Sea to RockRose UKCS 10 Ltd, a unit of Viaro Energy.

JD Sports Fashion drifted down more than 5%. Entain ended lower by about 2.5%, while Rentokil Initial, DCC, Prudential, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Ashtead Group and Halma lost 1 to 1.6%.

In Germany, Qiagen, BMW, Commerzbank, Symrise, Vonovia, RWE and Deutsche Post ended higher by 0.7 to 1.2%.

Puma and Adidas ended down by about 7% and 5.2%, respectively, after U.S. peer Nike lowered its revenue outlook and unveiled plans to cut $2 billion (€1.8 billion) in costs over the next three years.

In the French market, Saint Gobain, Airbus Group, TotalEnergies, Sanofi, ArcelorMittal, Publicis Groupe and Vinci posted moderate gains.

Hermes International and Teleperformance lost about 2.7% and 2%, respectively. Alstom, WorldLine and Renault ended down 1.2 to 1.4%.

Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that British retail sales advanced 1.3% month-on-month in November following a revised nil growth in October.

Separate data showed the U.K. economy contracted in the third quarter due to the fall in the service sector.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.1% sequentially in the third quarter, which was revised down from the flat growth estimated initially.

Meanwhile, the U.K. current account deficit narrowed to GBP 17.18 billion in the third quarter from GBP 23.96 billion in the second quarter.

Data from the Commerce Department showed consumer price growth in the U.S. decelerated to 2.6% in November from a downwardly revised 2.9% in October.

The bigger than expected slowdown in consumer price growth is likely to add to optimism the Fed is poised to pivot to cutting interest rates early next year.