European shares pare losses as ECB holds rates steady

PARIS: European shares pared early losses on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept its interest rates steady as expected, while downbeat corporate updates, including from Standard Chartered weighed on the benchmark index.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 0.5% lower, with automakers leading declines.

The European Central Bank (ECB) left interest rates unchanged at 4%, snapping an unprecedented streak of 10 consecutive hikes, and maintained its guidance, signalling steady policy ahead.

“It is clearly of the view that keeping rates at this level for long enough will do the job of getting inflation back to its 2% target,” said Neil Birrell, chief investment officer at Premier Miton Investors.

Healthcare was one of the weak performers, as Straumann tumbled nearly 10% after the Swiss dental implants maker’s US peer Align Technology cut its full-year revenue forecast.

A raft of downbeat earnings also weighed on the index, with shares of Siemens Energy plunging 35.5% to record lows after the German company said it was in talks with the government about state guarantees after major setbacks at its wind division.

Standard Chartered slumped 12.4% as the bank’s third-quarter pre-tax profit dropped 33%, while a fall in trading revenue pushed BNP Paribas down 2.6%.

Swedbank shed 6.9% after third-quarter net interest income fell short of expectations.

“When interest rates get this high, it tests banks,” said Michael Field, European equity strategist at Morningstar.

“Those exposed to certain areas of the economy for the last couple of years are able to withstand it and benefit from it, but others simply aren’t.” Automakers fell 2.1%, weighed by a 5.8% decline in Mercedes-Benz post a drop in third-quarter earnings and a 9.5% fall in Swedish automaker Volvo Cars. HelloFresh sank 10.3%, with the German meal kit-maker’s third-quarter earnings missing expectations, while a drop in sales dragged consumer giant Unilever’s shares down 2.8% On the upside, BE Semiconductor (BESI) rose 13%, among top gainers of STOXX 600 as the Dutch company’s third-quarter gross margin beat estimates.

Swedish defence contractor Saab climbed 2%, helped by a jump in quarterly profit.

Lisbon’s PSI index outperformed regional markets, up 2.2%, boosted by a 10.6% increase in Jeronimo Martins after the retailer’s third-quarter profit surged.

Overall, analysts now expect STOXX 600 earnings to slump 9.7% in the third quarter, bigger than a 6.6% decline projected at the beginning of July, per LSEG data.