Major European Markets Close Weak As Interest Rate Concerns, Growth Worries Weigh

(RTTNews) - The major European markets ended on a negative note on Friday, and suffered weekly losses as well, as concerns about inflation and prospects of further monetary tightening by several central banks rendered the mood a bit bearish.

Investors continued to assess the impact of interest rates on economic growth, and digested the latest batch of economic data from the region.

The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.31% down. France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.4%, Germany's DAX edged down 0.09% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 crept up 0.07%. Switzerland's SMI declined 0.63%.

Other markets in Europe ended on a mixed note. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden closed weak.

Greece, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Turkiye ended higher, while Poland and Portugal settled flat.

In the UK market, Halma dropped 3.7%. Entain, Centrica, TUI, ITV, BAE Systems, Phoenix Holdings, SSE, Carnival, 3i, WPP, Ashtead Group, Smurfit Kappa Group and Ds Smith lost 1 to 3%.

RightMove rallied nearly 2.5%. Lloyds Banking Group surged 2.1%. Hargreaves Lansdown, Just Eat Takeaway.com, ICP, JD Sports Fashion, BP, Auto Trader Group, HSBC Holdings, Persimmon and Croda International gained 1 to 1.7%.

AstraZeneca gained about 1.5% after announcing it found favorable results in a trail for a common type of breast cancer.

Infant and young children's retailer Mothercare soared 17% after saying it expects to complete a refinancing shortly.

In the German market, Commerzbank shed about 3.4%. Brenntag ended lower by 2.2%. Fresenius Medical Care, Zalando, Continental and Fresenius dropped by 1.2 to 1.5%.

Siemens Healthineers climbed 3.75%. Volkswagen surged 2.6%, while Allianz, SAP, Siemens Energy and Puma gained 0.8 to 1%.

In Paris, Veolia, Michelin, Unibail Rodamco, Renault and Carrefour lost 2 to 2.5%.

Orange, Societe Generale, Legrand, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Saint Gobain, Airbus Group and Bouygues lost 1 to 1.7%.

Kering, Hermes International and Dassault Systemes gained 1.4 to 1.5%. Stellantis and Teleperformance posted modest gains.

On the economic front, data showed UK retail sales expanded in August on food and non-food store sales after wet weather hit footfall in July. Retail sales posted a monthly growth of 0.4%, in contrast to the 1.1% decline in July. Nonetheless, sales volume was slightly weaker than economists' forecast of 0.5% rise.

The UK private sector activity contracted at the fastest pace in more than two-and-a-half years in September amid steep declines in both manufacturing and services activity, the purchasing managers' survey results from S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply showed Friday.

The flash composite output index dropped to 46.8 from 48.6 in the previous month. Any score below 50 indicates contraction in the sector.

House prices in Germany declined in the second quarter at the fastest pace since 2000, adding further evidence to the adverse impact of rising interest rates on the real estate market in the biggest euro area economy. Prices of residential property decreased by an average 9.9% year-on-year, the statistical office Destatis said.

Despite a moderate improvement, the euro area private sector remained in the contraction territory in September, adding to fears of a recession in the second half of the year. The flash results of the purchasing managers' survey by S&P Global showed that the HCOB flash composite output index rose to 47.1 in September from 46.7 a month ago, while it was expected to fall to 46.5.