PARIS: European shares logged weekly declines on Friday, as investors tempered their expectations around major central banks reducing borrowing costs this year, with the focus now squarely on the European Central Bank’s next policy meeting.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 0.3% lower after rising as much as 0.5% during the day.
The benchmark index clocked a decline of 1.6% this week after hawkish remarks from ECB policymakers prompted traders to rethink expectations for interest rate cuts.
“We should take the jitteriness that we’ve been experiencing over the course of the last few weeks in the context of the rally that we already had throughout the course of 2023,” said Madison Faller, global investment strategist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
“Perhaps markets just got a little bit too ahead of themselves in terms of pricing those interest rate cuts so (what) we’re looking at now is just some consolidation after a really strong rally.” Rate-sensitive real estate was the worst-performing sector this week, followed closely by basic resources.
For the day, basic resources led declines, down 1.4%, while industrial goods and services fell 0.9% as Swiss engineering group ABB dropped 3.7% after documents showed its operations in China are being scrutinised by two US Congress committees.
Focus will now shift to the ECB’s upcoming policy meeting on Jan. 25 where the central bank is broadly expected to keep rates steady, though comments from its officials about its rate outlook would be scrutinised.
J.P. Morgan brought forward its first rate-cut expectations by the ECB to June from September, but said it remained “cautious” about inflation and wage growth trends.
On the data front, German producer prices fell more than expected in December, decreasing 8.6% year-on-year, although the blue-chip DAX 40 index was down 0.1%.
British retail sales suffered the biggest drop in almost three years during December, stoking concerns of a recession. The FTSE 100 index ended flat.
On the bright side, technology stocks advanced for a second session, up 0.6%. Berenberg said it liked Europe’s technology, media and telecom sector and signalled an upside in 2024 from a macro rebound, generative artificial intelligence, and structural growth.
Among other major movers, Teleperformance gained 8.6% after Stifel upgraded the teleservices firm’s to “buy” from “hold”.
Ericsson and Nokia were laggards, down 4.0% and 2.9%, respectively. Barclays downgraded the telecom equipment providers, warning of a slowdown in 5G roll out in India.
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