Major European Markets Pare Early Losses, Settle On Mixed Note

(RTTNews) - After staying well below the flat line till about an hour past noon on Monday, European stocks recovered some lost ground after Iran announced the end of its military operation against Israel, raising hopes of a potential de-escalation in the wider U.S.-Iran war.

Higher bond yields and oil prices, and fears of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve after last week's upbeat jobs data weighed on sentiment early on in the session. Though the major markets managed to pare most of their early losses, other markets in the region mostly ended on a weak note.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.15% down. The UK's FTSE 100 edged up 0.05%, Germany's DAX settled lower by 0.58% and France's CAC 40 closed 0.23% down. Switzerland's SMI slid 0.5%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended weak.

Czech Republic, Finland and Greece drifted down marginally. Netherlands, Poland and Türkiye closed higher, while Portugal ended flat.

In the UK market, Entain and Intertek moved up 2.6% and 2.1%, respectively. BT Group, British American Tobacco, Vodafone Group, Halma, Airtel Africa, Aviva, Fresnillo, Coca-Cola HBC, Weir Group, BAE Systems and Bunzl gained 1%-1.5%.

Scottish Mortgage, Berkeley Group Holdings, Persimmon, Barratt Redrow, Lion Finance, Marks & Spencer, Haleon, Melrose Industries, Kingfisher, IAG, Convatec Group, Croda International and LSEG shed 1.4%-3%.

In the German market, Adidas, Porsche Automobil Holding, Infineon and Daimler Truck Holding gained 1%-2%.

BASF, Heidelberg Materials, Brenntag, Zalando, Vonovia, SAP, Commerzbank, Beiersdorf, Siemens Healthineers, Bayer and Henkel lost 1%-4.2%.

In the French market, STMicroelectronics climbed nearly 4.5%. Orange and Hermes International gained 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively. Dassault Systemes, L'Oreal, LVMH and Publicis Groupe also closed notably higher.

Saint-Gobain shed about 3.7% and Legrand lost 2.7%. Bouygues, Sanofi, Safran, Stellantis and Bureau Veritas drifted down 1%-2%.

Airbus eased by about 1%. The aerospace and defense major has been informing some customers of delays on A320neo series jets, which are due to be delivered in 2027 and 2028, Bloomberg News reported Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Data from the federal statistical office Destatis showed Germany's factory orders declined more than expected in April, falling 3.8% in the month, in contrast to the 4.5% increase in March. Economists had forecast a fall of 2.2%.

On a yearly basis, orders grew 1.6% but much slower than the 6.1% growth posted in March.

Data showed a significant decline of 5.3% in new orders in the automotive industry followed by a 16.3% fall in the manufacture of electrical equipment. Mechanical engineering equipment orders fell 7.4%. Orders declined across all major categories, including consumer goods (down 6.7%), intermediate goods (down 4.4%), and capital goods (down 2.9%).

Eurozone's Sentix investor confidence improved to -13.4 in June from -16.4 in May, data from behavioral research institute Sentix showed.