Major European Markets Close Weak As War Concerns, Oil's Rise Weigh

(RTTNews) - After snapping a three-day losing streak on Tuesday, the major European markets turned weak on Wednesday as concerns about deepening tensions in the Middle East and higher oil prices hurt sentiment, prompting investors to stay away from riskier assets.

Benchmark Brent crude futures moved up nearly 6% and WTI contracts surged more than 5.5% today as the fighting in Iran continued to rage on, with the U.S. and Israel exchanging air strikes with Iran across the Middle East.

Some disappointing earnings updates and fading hopes of further monetary easing by central banks weighed as well.

Economists are of the view that major central banks across the world are likely to maintain their interest rates or even announce hikes, if required.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.59%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed 0.56% down, Germany's DAX slid 1.37% and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.19%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.82% down.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Poland, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed weak.

Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and Türkiye ended higher, while Netherlands closed flat.

In the UK market, Legal & General fell 6.8% despite 2025 results coming broadly in line with estimates and the company launching its largest-ever share buyback of £1.2 billion.

Smiths Group, ICG, Fresnillo, Endeavour Mining, Convatec Group, Airtel Africa, Babcock International, Spirax Group and Diageo lost 2.3%-5%.

Imperial Brands, Haleon, Reckitt Benckiser, Antofagasta, Segro and Standard Chartered also declined sharply.

Energy stocks BP and Shell moved up 2.9% and 2%, respectively, riding on higher oil prices. Rentokil Initial climbed about 2.5%. Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Intercontinental Hotels Group and Smith & Nephew also posted strong gains.

Shares of British construction group Balfour Beatty soared 9%. The company launched a £200 million share buyback and raised its full-year dividend after reporting higher profits and a record order book.

In the German market, Rheinmetall tumbled 7%. The defense equipment maker's 2026 sales outlook fell short of estimates. The Rheinmetall Group's annual sales in 2026 is expected to grow by 40%-45% to 14.0 billion euros to 14.5 billion euros.

Consumer goods and adhesives maker Henkel lost about 4% after reporting mixed fourth-quarter results. . Vonovia drifted down 5.4%. Heidelberg Materials, SAP, Siemens Energy, Qiagen, Siemens Healthineers, Fresenius, Siemens, Deutsche Boerse, Symrise, Zalando, Beiersdorf, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Post and Adidas also ended notably lower.

Brenntag, Volkswagen, Bayer, BASF and Daimler Truck Holding closed with sharp to moderate gains. State-owned utility Uniper rallied sharply after reporting strong financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025.

Unibail Rodamco, EssilorLuxottica, Edenred, Hermes International, Stellantis, Accor, ArcelorMittal, Pernod Ricard, Kering and Legrand were among the notable losers in the French market.

Renault gained nearly 2.5%, extending previous session's upmove. TotalEnergies climbed about 1.8%. Capgemini moved up more than 2%.

In economic news, Germany's consumer price index posted an annual growth of 1.9% in February, in line with the flash estimate, final data from Destatis showed.

EU harmonized inflation softened slightly to 2% in February from 2.1% n January.

Data showed that food prices moved up at a slower pace of 1.1% after climbing 2.1% in January. Meanwhile, energy prices dropped 1.9%, following a 1.7% decrease in January. Services prices were up 3.2% in February.

Excluding food and energy, core inflation slowed to 2.3% from 2.5% in January.