European Markets Lower Amid Weak Data

(RTTNews) - Most European markets are losing on Friday, following recent gains, after German factory orders declined more than expected in May as both domestic and foreign orders decreased from April. Trading was subdued as U.S. markets will be closed for the Independence Day.

New orders in manufacturing fell by seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent month-on-month in May, provisional data from Destatis showed. Economists had forecast a 1.1 percent fall in new orders after rising revised 3.4 percent in April.

Construction sector activity in Germany deteriorated in June at the sharpest pace in 15 months, led by a steep fall in new orders, prompting firms to reduce workforce, survey figures from Markit Economics showed.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks is losing 0.22 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, is falling 0.02 percent.

The German DAX is down 0.11 percent and the French CAC 40 is falling 0.17 percent. The UK's FTSE 100 is marginally lower, while Switzerland's SMI is fractionally up.

In Frankfurt, steel giant ThyssenKrupp is adding 1.5 percent. Airline Lufthansa is advancing around 1 percent.

Leg Immobilien is gaining 3.5 percent. The property investment company was raised to ''Buy'' from ''Hold'' at Deutsche Bank.

Daimler reported strong growth in sales of Mercedes-Benz in the first half of the year. The stock is modestly down.

Volkswagen is fractionally lower. Sports-car maker Porsche, owned by the auto giant, Thursday said it increased its stake in engineering group Bertrandt AG by nearly four percentage points to about 29 percent.

In Paris, Societe Generale and BNP Paribas are losing 1.7 percent each. Macquarie cut BNP to ''Neutral'' from ''Outperform.''

Technip, which announced a new contract, is in the red.

Alstom is gaining 1.7 percent and Bouygues is gaining moderately. The French stock regulator said, the deal by the French government to acquire a 20 percent stake in Alstom from Bouygues tantamounts to concerted action. The ruling will make it expensive for Paris to acquire the stake.

In London, Sports Direct is losing 1 percent and National Grid is falling 0.9 percent.

Rio Tinto and Anglo American are losing moderately.

Antofagasta was raised to ''Equalweight'' from ''Underweight'' at Morgan Stanley. The stock is up 1.1 percent.

easyJet is gaining 2.4 percent after reporting traffic data.

Xchanging, which announced an acquisition, is climbing over 9 percent.

Erste Group plunged over 14 percent in Vienna. The company expects risk costs to rise from the planned 1.7 billion euros to about 2.4 billion euros in 2014 as a result of increased provisions in Hungary and Romania.

The Asian stocks rose broadly, after a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed that employment in the U.S. rose by much more than anticipated in the month of June. However, gains were muted amid the Independence Day holiday in the U.S.

Crude for August delivery is losing $0.23 to $103.83 per barrel, while gold is gaining $1.1 to $1321.7 a troy ounce.