BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks tumbled on Thursday, sending several markets down to multi-month lows, as rising oil prices and higher bond yields triggered heavy selling across various sectors. Additionally, recent inflation data from the region has raised the possibility of more monetary tightening bank in coming months.
Brent crude front-month futures climbed to around $101.50, rising nearly 3.5%. Bond yields on long term, U.S., German and French bonds rose, adding to the pressure on stocks.
The UK market's FTSE 100, which fell to its lowest levels since end June, ended 1.68% down. Germany's DAX dropped more than 1% to a more than 2-month low, while France's CAC 40 lost about 1.6%, falling to a six-month low. Switzerland's SMI ended 1.5% down. The pan European Stoxx 600 finished lower by 1.3%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed with sharp to moderate losses.
Russia and Türkiye bucked the trend and ended notably higher.
In the UK market, Games Workshop ended 6.2% down. Lion Finance, Natwest Group, Weir, Lloyds Banking Group, LondonMetric Property, Barratt Redrow, British American Tobacco, Tritax Big Box REIT, Standard Chartered and M&G lost 3%-6%.
Haleon, Land Securities, Aberdeen Group, Unilever, IMI, Melrose Industries, Next, Marks & Spencer, Rio Tinto, Aviva, GSK, AstraZeneca, Antofagasta and Segro also declined sharply.
Autotrader Group, BP, Airtel Africa, Tesco, Computacenter, Vodafone Group, The Sage Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Pearson and Ithaca Energy closed on firm note.
In the German market, Bayer ended lower by 5.3%. Porsche Automobil Holding, Volkswagen, Merck, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Deutsche Post, Fresenius and Zalando lost 2%-4%.
Adidas, MTU Aero Engines, BASF, Vonovia, Beiersdorf, RWE, Henke, Symrise, Qiagen, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens, Brenntag, Allianz and Rheinmetall also closed notably lower.
Heidelberg Materials climbed about 2.8%. Hochtief moved up 2.3%, while Scout24, SAP and Continental posted modest gains.
In the French market, Societe Generale, ArcelorMittal, Accor, Saint-Gobain, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas closed down by 3.6%-5%.
Pernod Ricard, Kering, Edenred, Airbus, LVMH, Hermes International, Air Liquide, Safran, L'Oreal, Michelin, Danone, Bouygues, Renault, Carrefour, TotalEnergies, AXA, Stellantis, Unibail Rodamco, Legrand and Engie also declined sharply.
Capgemini jumped nearly 7.5%. Teleperformance, STMicroelectronics, Publicis Groupe, Orange and Sanofi gained 0.6%-1.2%.
In economic news, the S&P Global Germany Manufacturing PMI was revised slightly higher to 53.9 in September 2026 from a preliminary of 53.8, pointing to a slowdown from 54.3 in August which was the highest since May 2022.
Data released by S&P Global showed the S&P Global France Manufacturing PMI eased to 50.6 in September from 51.1 in August, surpassing the preliminary estimate of 50.3. Factory production increased for a second straight month, but only marginally as falling demand weighed on output.
Data released by the Nationwide Building Society revealed UK house prices dropped unexpectedly in September, falling 0.2% on a monthly basis, offsetting a 0.2% rise in August. Prices were forecast to remain flat.
On a yearly basis, house price growth halved to 0.8% from 1.6% in the previous month, marking the weakest growth since December 2025. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 1.3%.
In the third quarter, house prices were down 0.4% from the prior quarter but increased 1.2% from the previous year.
Nationwide's Chief Economist Robert Gardner said housing market activity remained subdued in recent months due to the uncertain economic conditions. The conflict in the Middle East exerts upward pressure on energy prices, fanning inflation concerns, he noted.
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