European Stocks Close Weak After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed weak on Friday, retreating after scoring strong gains on the first session of Year 2024. Losses in automobile, luxury and travel sectors weighed on the markets on a day when investors largely stayed cautious, looking for directional clues.

The drop in shares from the luxury sector was due to sharp near 30% drop in duty-free sales in China's island province of Hainan last year.

The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.49%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.44%, Germany's DAX lost 0.59% and France's CAC 40 fell 1.51%, while Switzerland's SMI bucked the trend and gained 0.2%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia and Spain ended weak. Iceland closed slightly down.

Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Turkiye closed higher. Austria and Sweden edged up marginally.

In the UK market, Diageo, Persimmon, Barratt Redrow, EasyJet, Taylor Wimpey, Entain, Prudential, Whitbread, Spirax Group, Melrose Industries and WPP closed down 2 to 4%.

Shell gained more than 1.5%. BP, Pershing Square Holdings, Scottish Mortgage, DCC, British Land Company, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Centrica also closed higher.

In the German market, RWE climbed nearly 2.5%. Rheinmetall, Siemens Energy and Hannover Rueck gained 1.7 to 2%. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Deutsche Telekom posted moderate gains.

BASF, Puma, BMW and Bayer lost 2 to 2.5%. Vonovia, Infineon, MTU Aero Engines, Sartorius, Porsche, SAP, Brenntag, Siemens and Mercedes-Benz closed lower by 1 to 1.7%.

In the French market, Kering closed with a loss of about 5.5%. ArcelorMittal drifted down 4.7%, while LVMH, Stellantis, Hermes International and Pernod Ricard lost 3 to 4%.

Publicis Groupe, Michelin, Accor, Societe Generale, Saint-Gobain, Renault, Veolia, Essilor, L'Oreal, Dassault Systemes, BNP Paribas, Edenred, STMicroElectronics, Sanofi, Safran, Legrand and Credit Agricole lost 1 to 3%.

Germany's jobless rate remained unchanged in November, the labor force survey results from Destatis showed on Friday.

The unemployment rate came in at adjusted 3.4% in November, unchanged from October. The number of unemployed decreased 2,000 on month to 1.52 million.

On an unadjusted basis, unemployment increased 138,000 or 10.1% from the previous year. The jobless rate rose to 3.3% from 3.1% last year.

Further, data showed that employment was almost unchanged in November compared to last year. Employment remained at previous year's level for the third consecutive month, Destatis said.

UK mortgage approvals declined unexpectedly to a three-month low in November and consumer credit growth weakened to the lowest in more than two years, vindicating the view that the economy likely stagnated at the end of the year.

The number of approvals fell to 65,720 in November from 68,129 in the previous month, data from the Bank of England showed on Friday. Approvals were expected to rise to 69,000.

Nonetheless, approvals remained above their previous twelve-month average of 60,400.