Major European Markets Close Weak After Cautious Session

(RTTNews) - Despite seeing a positive spell after a somewhat sluggish start, the major European markets ended on a weak note on Monday as investors largely stayed cautious, assessing the prospects of fresh talks between the U.S. and Iran, and looking ahead to monetary policy announcements from several top central banks.

Reports saying Iran has sent a peace proposal to the US aimed at easing the ongoing Middle East conflict aided sentiment to some extent.

According to reports, Iran gave the United States a new proposal on reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and ending of the war, with nuclear negotiations postponed for a later stage.

The new proposal, reportedly given to the US via the Pakistani mediators, focuses on solving the crisis over the strait and the US blockade first. As part of that, the ceasefire would be extended for a long period or the parties would agree on a permanent end to the war.

However, the mood in the market remained cautious amid uncertainty about any meaningful progress in peace efforts.

Investors also looked ahead to interest rate decisions several central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and Bank of Canada this week.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.3%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down by 0.56%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 both settled lower by 0.19%. Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.03%.

Other markets in Europe closed mixed. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Russia and Türkiye ended higher.

Czech Republic, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden closed weak, while Greece and Spain ended flat.

In the UK market, Entain fell 5.5% on news that major shareholder Eminence Capital is being shuttered. According to a letter to advisors seen by Bloomberg, hedge fund veteran Ricky Sandler is shuttering Eminence and returning investor cash after a 27-year run. Sandler was understood to have told clients that the hedge fund hasn't performed well enough in recent years to keep operating.

Marks & Spencer drifted down 4.8%. Endeavour Mining, Sainsbury (J), Weir Group, Compass Group, BT Group, Babcock International, Airtel Africa, Persimmon, Intertek Group, Tesco, Melrose Industries and Antofagasta lost 2%-3.6%.

Burberry Group and Smith & Nephew moved up 2.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Standard Chartered, M&G and IG Group gained 1.1%-1.3%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy fell 5.5%. Deutsche Telekom, Hannover Rueck, Merck, Daimler Truck Holding and Munich RE lost 2%-2.7%.

Siemens climbed 3.6%. Commerzbank gained nearly 3% on rating upgrade. Rheinmetall, RWE, SAP, Adidas and Heidelberg Materials also ended notably higher.

Shares of wind turbine manufacturer Nordex gained nearly 6% after the company's first-quarter earnings surpassing analysts' expectations.

In the French market, Orange, Sanofi, Danone, Pernod Ricard, Legrand, STMicroelectronics and Dassault Systemes lost 1%-1.6%.

Renault rallied nearly 3%. Capgemini and Teleperformance gained about 2.5% and 2.3%, respectively. Kering, Safran, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Publicis Groupe also closed notably higher.

Forvia SE shares moved up sharply in early trades after the company announced that Apollo Global Management Inc. has agreed to buy Forvia SE's auto interiors business for an enterprise value of €1.82 billion ($2.1 billion). However, the stock pared its gains subsequently ended flat.

In economic news, the latest results of the NIM Consumer Climate powered by GfK showed German consumer sentiment is set to deteriorate sharply in May as income expectations collapsed due to rising inflation amid the war in Iran.

The forward-looking consumer confidence index fell to -33.3 in May from -28.1 in April. This was the lowest score since February 2023.

The economic expectations index, which measures consumers' outlook for the German economy over the coming twelve months, dropped 6.8 points to -13.7 in April.

Income expectations plunged 18.1 points to -24.4 in April largely driven by cooling economic expectations and rising price expectations.

The willingness to buy dropped 3.5 points to -14.4, marking a two-year low in a long-term comparison, GfK said. At the same time, the willingness to save indicator fell to 16.1 from 18.5 in the previous month.