BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The major European markets closed slightly down on Friday as investors assessed recent moves of the central banks and weighed the potential impact of tariffs. A bit of profit taking also contributed to the market's weak close.
The pan European Stoxx 600 ended 0.16% down. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed 0.12% down, and Germany's DAX ended lower by 0.15%, while France's CAC 40 edged down by 0.01%. Bucking the trend, Switzerland's SMI gained 0.5%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Russia ended weak.
Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.
In the UK market, WPP closed down by 5.2%. JD Sports Fashion ended 3.85% down. Natwest Group, Ashtead Group, Airtel Africa, Lloyds Banking Group, Informa, Convatec Group, Relx, Marks & Spencer, ICG and BT Group also declined sharply.
Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining climbed up 5.2% and 5.05%, respectively. Next, Coca-Cola HBC, Glencore, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Antofagasta, GSK, M&G, Lands Securities, Sainsbury (J), EasyJet and Pershing Square Holdings gained 1 to 2.5%.
In the German market, Sartorius, Deutsche Bank, Brenntag, Merck, Rheinmetall, RWE and E.ON posted sharp to moderate gains.
Puma closed down 4.4%. Zalando, Covestro and Symrise ended lower by 3.1 to 3.7%. Infineon, Deutsche Boerse, Beirsdorf, Continental, Deutsche Post and Adidas ended down by 1 to 2%.
In the French market, Publicis Groupe closed more than 3% down. STMicroElectronics, L'Oreal, Thales and Capgemini ended lower by about 2.3%. Dassault Systemes, LVMH, Edenred and TotalEnergies also closed weak.
Safran, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, ArcelorMittal, Airbus, AXA, Teleperformance and Stellantis closed with strong gains.
On the economic front, French manufacturing confidence deteriorated in September as views on past production and general production outlook weakened, survey results from the statistical office INSEE showed.
The manufacturing sentiment index slid to 96 in September, in line with expectations, from 97 in August.
Germany's producer prices declined for the sixth straight month in August on falling energy prices, according to a report from Destatis.
Producer prices registered an annual fall of 2.2% after declining 1.5% in July. Prices have been falling since March. The decline was also sharper than the expected 1.8% fall.
Month-on-month, the decline in producer prices deepened to 0.5% from 0.1% in July.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed UK retail sales increased for the third straight month in August, rising by 0.5%, from a month ago. This followed a similar revised 0.5% increase seen in July and outpaced economists' forecast of 0.4% gain.
Excluding auto fuel, growth in retail sales doubled to 0.8% from 0.4% in July and came in stronger than the forecast of 0.6%.
On a yearly basis, retail sales logged a growth of 0.7% in August, after rising 0.8% in the previous month. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales growth accelerated to 1.2% from 1% in July.
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