European Stocks Close Weak As Mid East War Concerns, High Oil Prices Weigh

(RTTNews) - European stocks went sliding down south Monday morning, with many of the markets falling to multi-month lows, as deepening conflict in the Middle East, and rising concerns about inflation due the steep rise in oil prices rendered the mood extremely bearish.

Brent crude futures, which rose to a nearly four-year high to $119.50 a barrel earlier, dropped to around $100 later on in the day, but still remained nearly 8% up from Friday's close.

Tensions in the Gulf escalated following reports of explosions at Al Udeid Air Base, the largest United States military installation in the Middle East.

Bahrain's state oil company has declared force majeure on its shipments after Iranian strikes in the region set the largest oil facility on fire.

An unexpected drop in German industrial production in the month of January and a sharp drop in German factors weighed as well.

Some of the markets in the region recovered some lost ground and trimmed their losses as the day progressed.

The slump was widespread in most of the markets across Europe, and stocks from financials, mining, industrials and aviation sectors were some of the worst hit.

The pan European Stoxx 600 closed down 0.62%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.34% down, Germany's DAX settled lower by 0.82% and France's CAC 40 fell 0.98%. Switzerland's SMI dropped 0.73%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Türkiye ended with sharp to moderate losses.

Denmark and Poland declined marginally, while Netherlands, Norway and Russia closed higher.

In the UK market, Persimmon, Intertek Group, Segro, British Land, JD Sports Fashion, Mondi, Land Securities, Easyjet, Anglo American Plc, IMI and LondonMetric Property ended lower by 3%-6%

Marks & Spencer, Standard Life, Weir Group, Melrose Industries, Smith & Nephew, Aviva, Convatec Group, M&G, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Antofagasta and Reckitt Benckiser also declined sharply.

Metlen Energy & Metals climbed more than 4%. Shell and BP gained about 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively, thanks to higher oil prices. BAE Systems, Babcock International, Admiral Group, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Pershing Square Holdings also ended notably higher.

In the German market, Qiagen, Continental, Porsche Automobil Holding, Beiersdorf, Vonovia, MTU Aero Engines, Henkel, Adidas, Merck, Zalando, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, BMW, Siemens and Heidelberg Materials declined sharply.

Bayer moved up more than 3.5%. Rhenimetall gained about 2.5% and Gea Group climbed 2.1%.

In the French market, Teleperformance ended more than 5% down. ArcelorMittal, Dassault Systemes, Unibail Rodamco, Stellantis, Michelin, Accor, Orange, L'Oreal, Bouygues, Societe Generale, EssilorLuxottica, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole lost 1%-4%.

Thales moved up nearly 3%, and TotalEnergies climbed about 1%.

In economic news, data from Destatis showed industrial production in Germany fell 0.5% in January, following a 1% decrease in December. Output was expected to climb 1%.

At the same time, factory orders plunged 11.1% in January, reversing last month's 6.4% growth. Economists had forecast a moderate decline of 4.2%.

Excluding energy and construction, industrial production fell 2.5% in January compared to December.

Year-on-year, industrial production was down 1.2% following a 0.4% rise in December. At the same time, annual growth in orders eased to 3.7% from 11.7%.

Eurozone investor confidence weakened to a three-month low in March after the outbreak of the Iran war, raising concerns about the recent upturn seen in the currency bloc, a survey conducted by the behavioral research institute Sentix showed.

After the third consecutive improvement, the investor confidence index dropped to -3.1 in March, in line with expectations, from +4.2 in February.