MILAN/FRANKFURT: European equity markets ended lower on Thursday with resource stocks weighing the most, while an aggressive growth strategy from the US Federal Reserve was met with little fanfare locally.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.6%, with mining stocks ranking among the biggest percentage losers as raw material prices retreated.
Bank stocks retreated as European bond yields fell after the Fed’s announcement.
HSBC fell 1.1% after it came under fresh US criticism for its reported treatment of customers linked with the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
A Reuters poll of fund managers showed European stocks are expected to stall for the rest of 2020 and miss out on the bull market.
Recent data has also suggested that an economic recovery in the bloc may be stalling after jumping sharply from pandemic-driven lows.
Among individual stocks, WPP, the world’s biggest advertising company, jumped 6.5% as it resumed its dividend after cost cuts and a switch to faster ad production helped it beat dire forecasts for second-quarter trading.
Smaller rival Publicis rose 2.4%.
German online takeaway food group Delivery Hero slipped 4.7% after announcing the acquisition of online grocery service InstaShop.
French conglomerate Bouygues rose 1.3% after reporting a lower-than-expected core operating loss in the first half of the year.
Clinical diagnostics company Novacyt jumped 7% after it launched a test to differentiate between Covid-19 and common winter diseases.—Reuters
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