European markets fell amid
Frankfurt — After a fairly good start Friday morning, the major European markets turned weak and ended the day’s session with notable losses as oil’s climb and concerns that major central banks will soon hike interest rates rendered the mood bearish.
Major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, left their interest rates unchanged but hinted at one or more rate hikes this year to combat inflation.
Oil’s wild swings since trade commenced Friday morning resulted in high volatility in the stock markets across Europe.
Oil prices fell earlier in the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said US President Donald Trump had requested that there be no further attacks on the Iranian gas field.
Trump suggested that he has no plans to deploy American troops to the Middle East. To increase oil supply and bring down energy prices, US officials said Washington may soon lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers.However, oil pared early losses and moved higher on reports the U.S. President is mulling a forced takeover of Iran’s Kharg Island.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended down 1.78%. The UK’s FTSE 100 slid 1.44%, Germany’s DAX fell 2.01% and France’s CAC 40 lost 1.82%. Switzerland’s SMI closed with a loss of 1.11%. The FTSE, DAX and CAC 40 all fell for a third straight week.
European markets fell amid
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed with sharp to moderate losses. Russia bucked the trend and closed with a moderate gain.
In the UK market, Smiths Group tanked nearly 10% after the engineering group’s half-year revenue growth fell short of estimates.Babcock International ended 4.5% down. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, BP, ICG, National Grid, SSE, Weir Group, Segro, Barratt Redrow, Centrica, Natwest Group, Marks & Spencer, BAE Systems, BT Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Coca-Cola HBCAntofagasta, Anglo American Plc and Endeavour Mining declined sharply. Bank stocks HSBC Holdings, Natwest Group, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays also ended sharply lower. British pub chain JD Wetherspoon tumbled after reporting a notable drop in profits in the first half. Metlen Energy & Metals climbed 3.2%. Croda International, Entain, Easyjet, IAG and Burberry Group gained 1%-1.5%.
In the German market, SAP ended down by about 4.2%. E.ON, Zalando, MTU Aero Engines, Rheinmetall, Siemens, Gea Group, Merck, Siemens Energy, RWE and Fresenius lost 2%-4%. Deutsche Bank, Qiagen, Fresenius Medical, Daimler Truck Holding, Munich RE, Hannover RE, Scout24, Deutsche Boerse, Siemens Healthineers and Allianz also ended notably lower. Heidelberg Materials gained about 3.3%. Brenntag climbed 1%.
In the French market, Hermes International, Societe Generale, Safran, Thales, BNP Paribas, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes, Legrand, Engie, EssilorLuxottica and TotalEnergies lost 2%-5%.Airbus, Vinci, Schneider Electric, ArcelorMittal, STMicroelectronics and AXA also declined sharply.
In economic news, Germany’s producer prices declined more than expected in February largely due to the sharp fall in energy prices, data from Destatis showed.
Producer prices logged an annual fall of 3.3% in February, slower than the 3% decrease seen in January. On a monthly basis, producer prices dropped 0.5%, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
European markets fell amid
The euro area current account surplus increased in January to the highest level since June 2024, data from the European Central Bank showed.
The current account surplus rose to €38 billion from €13 billion in December. The surplus on trade in goods increased to €33 billion from €19 billion and that on services rose to €16 billion from €14 billion.
Primary income showed a surplus of €4 billion compared to a shortfall of €4 billion in the previous month. The shortfall in the secondary income remained unchanged at €15 billion.
During twelve months to January, the current account surplus declined to €261 billion, or 1.6% euro area GDP, from €377 billion or 2.5% a year earlier.
The UK budget deficit reached the second highest level on record for the month of February, the Office for National Statistics reported on Friday.
Public sector net borrowing rose by £2.2 billion to £14.3 billion in February, surpassing the expected level of £8.7 billion.
In the financial year to February, borrowing decreased £11.9 billion from the last year to £125.9 billion, lower than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s projection of £127.8 billion for the period.
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