Investing.com - European stock markets traded in a tight range on Thursday, swinging between modest gains and losses after rallying to multi-month highs in the previous session, with investors looking to fresh data from the U.S. to gauge the strength of the global economy.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 eased up 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.15%, while Germany’s DAX 30 rose 0.3%.
European stocks started mostly lower, following mixed leads from Asia, as renewed concerns over China’s economic growth outlook weighed on appetite for riskier assets.
But shares stabilized ahead of the expected approval of a EUR28 billion loan by the International Monetary Fund for debt-strapped Greece.
The IMF executive board is expected to approve the loan on Thursday, bringing to a close a couple of months of worries about whether Greece would have a disorderly default.
Shares in the financial sector were mixed, as the week’s rally runs out of steam. German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank saw shares slump 0.4% and 0.8% respectively, but shares in BNP Paribas jumped 1%.
Meanwhile, automakers were broadly lower after Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said that European auto sales dropped 9.2% in February, the fifth consecutive monthly decline.
French automakers Renault and Peugeot fell 1% and 1.15% respectively.
German airliner Deutsche Lufthansa slumped 1.7% after saying that it swung to a loss of EUR13 million in 2011, as its passenger business suffered from high fuel costs.
On the upside, Zodiac Aerospace jumped 5.2% after it confirmed its sales growth forecast for the full fiscal year 2011-2012, as sales climbed 19.6% in the first half.
German cement maker HeidelbergCement added 2.9% after predicting operating profit and sales will rise this year.
Elsewhere, London’s commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was flat after ratings agency Fitch placed the U.K.’s triple-A credit rating on negative outlook late Wednesday.
The agency warned that the country had more than a 1-in-2 chance of losing the rating as the UK government had “limited fiscal space” left for maneuver.
Retailer Tesco saw shares decline 1% on reports that Richard Brasher, head of its UK business, was to step down after a recent profit warning by the supermarket.
But gains in miners provided support, after metal prices rebounded from the previous day’s sharp drop. BHP Billiton added 1.45%, Rio Tinto gained 1.2%, while copper producer Xstrata advanced 0.9%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a modestly higher open ahead of a flurry of U.S. data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures eased up 0.25%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.3% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on producer price inflation, as well as official data on unemployment claims. The country was also to produce reports on manufacturing activity in New York and Philadelphia.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 eased up 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 added 0.15%, while Germany’s DAX 30 rose 0.3%.
European stocks started mostly lower, following mixed leads from Asia, as renewed concerns over China’s economic growth outlook weighed on appetite for riskier assets.
But shares stabilized ahead of the expected approval of a EUR28 billion loan by the International Monetary Fund for debt-strapped Greece.
The IMF executive board is expected to approve the loan on Thursday, bringing to a close a couple of months of worries about whether Greece would have a disorderly default.
Shares in the financial sector were mixed, as the week’s rally runs out of steam. German lenders Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank saw shares slump 0.4% and 0.8% respectively, but shares in BNP Paribas jumped 1%.
Meanwhile, automakers were broadly lower after Brussels-based European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said that European auto sales dropped 9.2% in February, the fifth consecutive monthly decline.
French automakers Renault and Peugeot fell 1% and 1.15% respectively.
German airliner Deutsche Lufthansa slumped 1.7% after saying that it swung to a loss of EUR13 million in 2011, as its passenger business suffered from high fuel costs.
On the upside, Zodiac Aerospace jumped 5.2% after it confirmed its sales growth forecast for the full fiscal year 2011-2012, as sales climbed 19.6% in the first half.
German cement maker HeidelbergCement added 2.9% after predicting operating profit and sales will rise this year.
Elsewhere, London’s commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was flat after ratings agency Fitch placed the U.K.’s triple-A credit rating on negative outlook late Wednesday.
The agency warned that the country had more than a 1-in-2 chance of losing the rating as the UK government had “limited fiscal space” left for maneuver.
Retailer Tesco saw shares decline 1% on reports that Richard Brasher, head of its UK business, was to step down after a recent profit warning by the supermarket.
But gains in miners provided support, after metal prices rebounded from the previous day’s sharp drop. BHP Billiton added 1.45%, Rio Tinto gained 1.2%, while copper producer Xstrata advanced 0.9%.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a modestly higher open ahead of a flurry of U.S. data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures eased up 0.25%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.3% gain.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on producer price inflation, as well as official data on unemployment claims. The country was also to produce reports on manufacturing activity in New York and Philadelphia.