European Stocks Rise In Late Afternoon Trades, Close On Mixed Note

(RTTNews) - After languishing in negative territory for much of the day's trading session, European stocks closed mixed on Monday with several markets seeing some brisk buying at several key counters past mid afternoon.

The mood remained a bit cautious as investors continued to assess global economic prospects amid fresh tariffs, and lingering concerns on the geopolitical front. A downward revision in U.S. government's credit outlook by Moody's weighed on sentiment.

The UK's landmark agreement with the European Union aided sentiment to an extent and triggering some buying interest in the closing hour.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed an agreement in London today with the heads of the European Union, marking a new chapter in UK-EU relations since Brexit on 31 January 2020.

The UK - EU deal aims to reset relations between the two regions post-Brexit, by covering key areas such as trade, energy, security, fisheries and travel.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.13%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.17% and Germany's DAX climbed 0.7%. France's CAC 40 ended down 0.04%, while Switzerland's SMI closed up 0.18%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Austria, Czech Republic, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway and Poland ended weak, while Finland settled flat.

In the UK market, EasyJet climbed about 3.2%. IAG, Fresnillo, Tesco, Imperial Brands, Vodafone Group, Centrica, Marks & Spencer, Games Workshop, Airtel Africa, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Convatec Group, British American Tobacco and 3i Group gained 1 to 2.7%.

Shares of Diageo Plc failed to hold early gains and settled lower by about 1%. The world's leading spirits company unveiled a $500 million savings plan. Budget carrier Ryanair gained about 1% after signaling robust demand for travel this summer.

BP, Spirax Group, JD Sports Fashion, Melrose Industries, Pershing Square Holdings, Halma, Antofagasta, The Sage Group and Intercontinental Hotels Group ended down 1 to 2%.

In Germany, Siemens Energy rallied more than 3.5%. Rheinmetall, Continental, E.ON, Munich RE, Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Bank, MTU Aero Engines and Covestro advanced 1 to 2%.

Volkswagen, trading ex-dividend, shed about 5.5%. The stock's decline was also due to shareholders' criticism of the automaker's corporate governance at the carmaker's virtual annual general meeting on Friday.

Porsche, SAP, Brenntag, Adidas and Qiagen closed modestly lower.

In the French market, Veolia Environment climbed about 1.7%. Societe Generale, Carrefour, L'Oreal, Airbus, Thales, Publicis Groupe, AXA and Safran gained 0.7 to 1.3%.

BNP Paribas climbed nearly 3.5% after the bank announced a share buyback plan worth 1.08 billion euros.

Kering, Teleperformance, Stellantis, STMicroElectronics, Hermes International and LVMH lost 1 to 1.6%.

In economic news, Eurozone consumer prices logged a steady growth in April, final data from Eurostat showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices grew 2.2% on a yearly basis in April, the same pace of increase as seen in March. Eurostat confirmed the flash estimate published on May 2.

Core inflation that excludes prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco rose to 2.7% from 2.4% in the previous month. The core rate also matched the preliminary estimate.

Among components to HICP, services cost increased the most, up 4%. This was followed by a 3% rise in food, alcohol and tobacco prices. Non-energy industrial goods prices gained only 0.6%. By contrast, energy prices plunged 3.6% from the last year.

On a monthly basis, the HICP moved up 0.6%, as estimated.