Major European Markets Close Slightly Weak

(RTTNews) - The major European markets closed lower on Friday amid renewed concerns about geopolitical tensions and uncertainty surrounding French budget negotiations. Also, investors chose to take some profits, cashing in recent gains.

Geopolitical concerns weighed as Greenland worries returned to the fore, with media reports suggesting that European troops are landing in the country to defend it against real U.S. military threat.

The deployment of troops from several European countries and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies was announced after high-level negotiations between Denmark and U.S. officials ended in stalemate on Thursday.

On the political front, the French government has postponed parliamentary discussions on its budget to next Tuesday. The discussions were originally scheduled to take place today.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.03%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.04% down, Germany's DAX slid 0.22% and France's CAC 40 lost 0.65%. Switzerland's SMI shed 0.47%.

Other markets in Europe closed mixed. Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkiye closed higher.

Finland, Greece, Netherlands and Poland ended weak, while Ireland and Sweden closed flat.

In the UK market, BAE Systems, Natwest Group, Smiths Group, Schroders, National Grid, Standard Chartered, British Land Company and The Sage Group gained 1.4 to 2.3%.

Pearson, Metlen Energy & Metals, Entain, Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining, Glencore, Anglo American Plc., and Pershing Square Holdings lost 2 to 4%.

In Germany, Brenntag, BASF, Deutsche Telekom and Continental lost 2 to 4%. SAP, Porsche Automobil Holding, Volkswagen, Bayer, BMW, Adidas and Symrise closed lower by 1 to 1.9%.

Daimler Truck Holding declined after reporting a drop in 2025 sales. Continental, Siemens, Zalando, Bayer, Adidas and Symrise also drifted lower.

Siemens Energy climbed more than 5%. Zalando, RWE and Fresenius Medical Care gained 1.5 to 1.7%.

Kloeckner & Co shares soared over 28% after Worthington Steel announced that it would buy the German stee processor in a deal valued at $2.4 billion.

In the French market, Kering and Essilor closed down by 4.7% and 4%, respectively. LVMH, Stellantis, TP and Renault lost 2.7 to 3.1%.

Hermes International, Carrefour, Edenred, Sanofi, Saint-Gobain, Societe Generale, Pernod Ricard, Danone and Capgemini ended lower by 1 to 2%.

Thales moved up 2.3%. Vinci, Airbus, Orange and Safran posted moderate gains.

Data from Destatis showed the harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2% on a yearly basis in December, following a 2.6% gain in the previous month.

Likewise, consumer price inflation weakened to 1.8% from 2.3% in each of the previous two months. The latest inflation rate was the slowest since September 2024 and also matched the provisional estimate.

On a monthly basis, the HICP climbed 0.2% and the CPI remained flat in December. Both rates were in line with the initial estimates.

In 2025, CPI inflation averaged 2.2%, the same rate as seen in 2024 and weaker than the 5.9% posted in 2023.

Core inflation softened to 2.8% in 2025 from 3% in 2024.