European shares little changed as software rout counters relief rally in miners

FRANKFURT: Europe’s benchmark share index nudged up to another record close on Tuesday as a sharp sell-off in software and advertising companies offset a rally in commodity-linked stocks.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended up 0.1percent higher at 617.93 points, having also closed at an all-time high on Monday. “At the start of the session, the cooldown in the metal selloff has given an energy boost to investors and we had a better risk appetite.

But as the session progressed, we started to see that risk appetite wane,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Swissquote bank’s senior market analyst.

The media sector led declines, down 5.9percent for its biggest one-day drop in about six years, while technology stocks slid 4.2percent in their steepest fall in more than 10 months.

Traders and analysts pointed to the launch of Anthropic’s legal plug-in for its Claude generative AI chatbot as one catalyst behind the broader move, as investors reassessed whether incumbent firms can defend their business models, underscoring AI’s disruptive threat to the software sector.

The pressure hit legal and professional analytics providers. Britain’s RELX and the Netherlands’ Wolters Kluwer fell 14.4percent and 12.7percent, respectively. Germany’s SAP was down 4.6percent. Other professional-services names also traded lower, with Experian, Sage Group, and London Stock Exchange Group down between 6.7percent and 12.8percent.

Advertising stocks were also under strain. France’s Publicis dropped 9.2percent despite forecasting 4percent to 5percent organic growth for 2026. “As the earnings are coming into the light, we start seeing that what investors really want is to dig deeper into the revenue and profit prospects — impressive numbers are no longer as impressive,” Ozkardeskaya said.

Basic resources rose the most among sectors, up 4.2percent. Commodity-linked stocks had been under pressure since late last week, tracking a slump in precious metals prices on speculation that next US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh may prove to be hawkish. A hike in CME margin requirements also cooled the metals rally, but prices have recouped some losses since late Monday.

The European mining sector remains the best-performing this year, with a more than 18percent gain. The energy sector added 1.5percent as oil prices crept higher. Meanwhile, Germany is weighing investments ranging from spy satellites and space planes to offensive lasers under a 35 billion euro (USD41 billion) military space spending plan to counter growing threats from Russia and China in orbit.

The defence and aerospace index was up 0.5 percent.

Europe’s largest asset manager Amundi climbed 1.7percent after reporting higher-than-expected net inflows in the fourth quarter. German semiconductor wafer supplier Siltronic fell 8percent after beating forecasts for fourth-quarter core profit and revenue.