European Stocks Close Slightly Weak After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a slightly weak note on Tuesday, snapping a pretty good winning streak, as investors looked for fresh direction and made largely cautious moves.

Possibility of further interest rate hikes by central banks and concerns about economic slowdown weighed on sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.08%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.5% down, Germany's DAX gained 0.14% and France's CAC 40 ended flat, while Switzerland's SMI drifted down 0.18%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Portugal ended weak.

Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher, while Greece, Iceland and Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, Fresnillo and Haleon gained 2.86% and 2.59%, respectively. Glencore, Admiral Group, Endeavour Mining Plc, Hiscox, Auto Trader Group, Experian and National Grid gained 1 to 1.7%.

Ashtead Group plunged nearly 6%. Johnson Matthey drifted down 3.4%, while Rolls-Royce Holdings, Vodafone Group, British American Tobacco and Antofagasta ended lower by 2 to 2.6%. Ocado Group, BT Group, Shell and Rio Tinto also declined sharply.

Shares of OKYO Pharma plunged nearly 27% after the company said it plans to delist from the London Stock Exchange next month. The company cited low trading volumes and low valuations as the reason for its decision to delist the shares.

In the German market, Merck surged 2.3%. Henkel climbed nearly 2%, while E.ON, Deutsche Boerse and Hannover Rueck gained 1.2 to 1.6%.

Deutsche Bank, RWE, Fresenius Medical Care and Infineon Technologies ended lower by 1 to 1.4%.

In Paris, Hermes International, Danone, Teleperformance, Michelin, L'Oreal and BNP Paribas gained 1 to 1.8%.

Alstom ended lower by about 5.6%. Eurofins Scientific, Schneider Electric, ArcelorMittal, Kering, TotalEnergies, Stellantis and Legrand drifted down 1.3 to 2.4%.

On the economic front, Eurozone producer price inflation slowed further in February to the lowest level in nearly one-and-a-half years amid a slowdown in energy costs, data from Eurostat showed.

The producer price index posted an annual increase of 13.2% annually in February after a 15.1% surge in January. Prices were forecast to gain 13.3%.

Another data from Eurostat showed Eurozone house prices registered its biggest quarterly fall since late 2008, falling 1.7% in the fourth quarter. This followed a 0.8% gain in the third quarter.

Compared with the last year, house prices increased 2.9%, much weaker than the 6.6% increase in the third quarter.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's exports grew more than expected in February reflecting strong demand from the US and China. Exports increased 4% from January, when shipments were up 2.5%. This was the second consecutive rise. Growth was also better than the expected 1.6% gain.