European Stocks Fail To Hold Early Gains, Close Broadly Lower

(RTTNews) - European stocks failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Thursday, facing stiff resistance at higher levels as investors turned a bit cautious ahead of the Jackson Hole Symposium.

US chipmaker Nvidia's upbeat results triggered strong buying in the technology space and lifted the markets earlier in the day. Slightly easing worries about policy tightening after data showed contraction in manufacturing activity in several major economies contributed as well to the early surge.

The pan European Stoxx 600 fell 0.41%. Germany's DAX dropped 0.68% and France's CAC 40 declined 0.44%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.18%. Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.03%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak.

Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain ended higher, while Norway settled flat.

In the UK market, Aviva and Legal & General both shed more than 2.5%. Mondi, St. James's Place, Whitbread, Land Securities, CRH, BT Group, Antofagasta, IHG and Glencore lost 1 to 2%.

JD Sports Fashion rallied more than 5%. Ocado Group, Convatec, Croda International, Fresnillo, Halma, B&M European Value Retail, Severn Trent, Compass Group, British American Tobacco, Barclays and Beazley gained 1 to 1.8%.

In the German market, Daimler Truck Holding ended down 3.3%. Infineon lost about 2.5% and SAP ended lower by 2.2%.

Zalando, BMW, Volkswagen, Deutsche Post and Siemens lost 1 to 1.7%.

Covestro climbed more than 3.5%. Symrise and Hannover Rueck gained about 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Deutsche Bank and Munich RE advanced 1% and 0.8%, respectively.

In Paris, STMicroElectronics, Renault, Kering, WorldLine, Hermes International, Capgemini, Saint Gobain and Stellantis lost 1 to 2.5%.

In the Swiss market, UBS Group shares gained nearly 3%. Swiss lender Credit Suisse, now part of UBS Group, said it has dropped its plan for initial public offering of real-estate fund citing low trading volumes for listed Swiss real-estate funds.

In economic news, a survey showed France's manufacturing confidence deteriorated to the lowest since early 2021 on weak assessment of order books and past production.

The manufacturing sentiment index slid to 96 in August from 101 in July - according to survey results published by the statistical office INSEE. This was the lowest reading since January 2021 and also below economists' forecast of 99.