European Markets Drop, But Wirecard Surges

(RTTNews) - The European markets were swinging across the unchanged line on Tuesday afternoon, amid a fall in oil prices on oversupply concerns, ahead of the release of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July policy meeting due Wednesday for clues on the timing of an interest-rate hike.

In economic news, the number of persons in employment in Germany increased further in the second quarter, but at a slower pace, preliminary figures from Destatis showed.

Total number of employed persons in the country rose 0.4 percent, or by 175,700 persons to 42.8 million in the second quarter from the corresponding period last year. This was lower than the 0.6 percent hike logged in the first quarter.

U.K. consumer prices rose unexpectedly in July and core inflation reached a 5-month high, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Consumer prices advanced 0.1 percent in July from last year, while it was expected to remain flat as seen in June.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was losing 0.31 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was falling 0.07 percent.

The German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 index of the U.K. fell between 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent. Switzerland's SMI was marginally lower.

In Frankfurt, RWE declined nearly 3 percent and E.ON was down 1.1 percent.

Basf and Henkel dropped 1.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Wirecard surged more than 6 percent. The financial services company confirmed its full-year EBITDA outlook after reporting a 27 percent increase in second-quarter earnings after tax.

Merck added 2.7 percent. Linde and Beiersdorf were moderately higher.

In Paris, Technip declined 1.8 percent, and Total was falling 1.1 percent.

Gas utility Engie and electric utility EDF fell moderately.

Bucking the trend, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale were in positive territory.

In London, Anglo American and Rio Tinto declined 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Wood Group, which reported lower profit, fell 3.5 percent.

Home builder Persimmon fell into negative territory in afternoon trade. The company reported increased profit for the first half of the year.

Meanwhile Shire added 1.5 percent. ARM Holdings and Coca-Cola HBC were gaining moderately.

The Asian stocks gave up early gains to end mostly lower as the yuan resumed its decline against the dollar and Chinese shares came under heavy selling pressure.

In the U.S., futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks closed higher as investors shrugged off disappointing manufacturing data and focused on a strong reading from the housing sector. The Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose between 0.4 percent and 0.9 percent.

Crude for September delivery fell $0.27 to $41.60 per barrel, while December gold advanced $1.3 to $1119.7 a troy ounce.