Europe's STOXX 600 little changed as focus shifts to ECB
For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window
STOXX 600 ends flat
Britain's economy showed no growth on a month-on-month basis
U.S. August CPI at 2.5% vs 2.6% YoY
Commerzbank surges after Unicredit bought 9% stake
Updated at 1600 GMT
By Pranav Kashyap and Shubham Batra
Sept 11 (Reuters) -European shares ended flat on Wednesday as gains in technology shares were offset by losses in real estate shares,while investors shifted their focus to the European Central Bank for its rate decision on Thursday.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX was little changed on the day.
German shares outperformed European peers asCommerzbank CBKG.DE surged 16%, after Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI bought a 9% stake in the German lender, of which 4.5% was bought from the German government for 702 million euros ($775.29 million).
Heavy-weight ASML Holding's ASML.AS 3.8% gain caused the technology sector SX8P to rise but the real estate sector .SX86P kept the gains in check, falling 0.8%.
Basic resources .SXPP provided some support, gaining 0.4%, as copper prices rose on a softer U.S. dollar. MET/L
Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 .FTSE ticked 0.2% lower. Theestimates of GDP data showed no change in the UK's economic output inmonth-on-month terms in July.
The markets were hawkeyed on U.S. consumer prices that rose slightly in August, butunderlying inflation remained sticky amid higher rents and costs for some services, which could discourage the Fed from delivering a half-point interest rate cut next week.
Money markets now see only a 15% chance of a 50 bps cut on Sept. 18 by the U.S. central bank as opposed to a 30% chance before the inflation data.
Investors will now shift their focus to the ECB that meets in less than 24 hours and is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
"Anything other than a 25 bp rate cut from the ECB tomorrow would be a huge surprise to us and the market," said Joe McConnell, European liquidity strategies portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
"The real intrigue will be in Lagarde's comments about the perceived persistence of inflation and the pace of future rate cuts."
Investors across the globe approachedthe markets with caution following the first debate between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, which took place overnight. The debate lacked specific details, but betting markets shifted in favour of Harris after the event.
Among other individual movers, RentokilRTO.L slumped 20%, after the British pest control firm flagged a slowdown in its North American revenue and said it would cut jobs.
Inditex ITX.MC rose 4.5%,lifting the retail sector .SXRP to the top, after the Zara owner reported stronger recent sales of its first autumn-winter collections.
Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Mrigank Dhaniwala, Alexandra Hudson
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.
