European stocks ended lower on Thursday, losing ground for the fourth time in five sessions as Moody's warning on US debt and rising Italian bond yields despite a well-bid debt auction rattled investors. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed 0.9 percent lower at 1,089.35 points.
The eurozone's blue chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell 0.7 percent at 2,695.29 points, breaking below a key support level at 2,707, which represents the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement of the index's drop from a high in early May to a low hit earlier this week.
The two benchmark indexes have lost about 6 percent and 11 percent respectively over the past 2-1/2 months, as reignited fears of a Greek debt default and contagion from the eurozone debt crisis to other countries prompted investors to dump risky assets such as equities. Agilis Gestion fund manager Arnaud Scarpaci said the pull-back was overdone.
US bank J.P. Morgan Chase & Co posted a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly profit on Thursday as it wrote off fewer bad mortgages and credit card loans, sending its shares up 2.6 percent. But the results failed to spark a rally in the European banking sector index, stuck in a downward channel since mid-February in which it has tumbled 25 percent, dragging its 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) to 7.5, a level not seen since March 2009. Investors' focus was instead on stress test results from 90 banks from 21 countries, due after European markets close on Friday and expected to shed light on sovereign bond holdings and funding costs.