European shares post quarterly loss as markets await French elections
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window
Air France-KLM drops on Barclays downgrade
Nike's dour forecast drags JD Sports, Puma
STOXX off 0.2%, clock weekly, monthly and quarterly loss
Updated at 1600 GMT
By Shristi Achar A, Shashwat Chauhan and Jesus Calero
June 28 (Reuters) - European shares gave up early gains to close lower on Friday as a drop in shares of beauty giant L'Oreal weighed, while the benchmark index clocked weekly, monthly and quarterly declines on French political uncertainties.
The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX closed 0.2% lower, extending losses to the fourth straight session.
The personal and household goods sector .SXQP shed 1%, dragged by a 3% fall in French beauty giantL'Oreal OREP.PA after its CEO gave a lower market growth forecast during a Fireside Chat hosted by J.P.Morgan.
The benchmark STOXX 600 recorded its first quarterly loss in three, along with a monthly and weekly decline, amid political uncertainties in France following President Emmanuel Macron's call for a snap election earlier this month.
"It's a pretty lacklustre end for a generally lacklustre quarter ... markets are very nervous about Macron's gamble," said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers.
France's benchmark CAC 40 index .FCHI lost 0.7%, ending 8.8% lower for the quarter, underperforming the region's bourses. The risk premium on French government bonds hit its highest since 2012. GVD/EUR
Meanwhile, an opinion poll published in newspaper Les Echos saidfar-right party National Rally (NR) further rose in its forecast and may reach as much as 37% of the popular vote, two days before the first voting round in the French parliamentaryelections.
"There is a risk of a wider European downturn stemming from France, depending on the election outcomes," said James Reilly, markets economist at Capital Economics.
Technology stocks .SX8P rose 0.4%, tracking record-setting gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC, as a softer inflation reading firmed bets of a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve. .N
In the continent,French consumer prices rose 2.5% year-on-year in June, in line with expectations, as per preliminary data, while Spain's EU harmonised inflation rate fell to 3.5% in the 12 months through June.
Among other stocks, Nokia NOKIA.HE added 1.5% after the Finnish firm agreed to buy Infinera Corp INFN.O in a deal with an enterprise value of $2.3 billion.
Britain's largest sportswear retailer JD Sports JD.L fell more than 5.4% after U.S. peer Nike NKE.N forecast a surprise drop in 2025 revenue, whileGerman peer Puma PUMG.DE also lost 2.5%
Air France-KLM AIRF.PA dropped 4.1%to a record low after Barclays cut the Franco-Dutch airline group to "equal-weight" from "overweight" on political uncertainty.
Finland's Fortum FORTUM.HE shed 4.6%after Goldman Sachs downgraded the utility to "sell" on limited share upside and weaker profit and investment outlooks.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru and Jesus Calero in Gdansk; Editing by Eileen Soreng, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Chris Reese
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
