BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended the first day of the new trading week firmly in negative territory. Concerns over a potential trade war continues to weigh on investor sentiment. Traders were also in a cautious mood ahead of policy decisions from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of England on Thursday.
The European Union has reportedly reached a post-Brexit transitional deal, ahead of the EU summit due this week. The transitional deal enables the U.K. to continue its membership of the Single Market and customs union until the end of 2020.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 1.07 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 1.24 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 1.25 percent.
The DAX of Germany dropped 1.39 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 1.13 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 1.69 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.80 percent.
In Frankfurt, Henkel dropped 1.48 percent after saying it had a slow start into 2018 due to delivery difficulties in North America.
In Paris, Saint-Gobain slid 0.38 percent after it acquired Italian glass systems specialist Logli Massimo.
In London, Rio Tinto tumbled 3.31 percent on reports that it has hired UBS to explore a possible public listing of its Pacific Aluminum smelting business on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Melrose Industries fell 0.71 percent. The company announced that its final offer to GKN Plc. of 466 pence in value today and 60 percent of future value creation is clearly superior to the hasty break-up being pursued by the GKN Board.
Micro Focus International plunged 46.35 percent. The software product group cut its fiscal 2018 revenue forecast after posting weak revenues for the first-half.
Hammerson soared 24.09 percent. The British landlord said it has rebuffed a takeover offer from French mall operator Klépierre.
Barclays jumped 3.58 percent after activist investor Sherborne took a 5 percent stake in the bank.
The Eurozone trade surplus declined to a three-month low in January as exports declined amid an increase in imports, data from Eurostat showed Monday. The trade surplus came in at seasonally adjusted EUR 19.9 billion versus a EUR 23.2 billion surplus in December. This was the lowest since October 2017.
Eurozone construction output decreased for the first time in seven months in January, data from Eurostat showed Monday. Construction output fell a seasonally adjusted 2.2 percent month-over-month in January, reversing a 0.7 percent rise in December, which was revised up from a 0.1 percent increase reported earlier.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX