Technology

European shares inch lower, dragged by French stocks

By Reuters

Copyright brecorder

European shares inch lower, dragged by French stocks

European shares were subdued on Monday, with French stocks lagging after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu named a new finance minister, while gains in technology and energy stocks helped limit broader losses.

The pan-European STOXX 600 inched 0.1% lower to 570.1 points by 0712 GMT. The index briefly hit an intraday record high on Monday after climbing more than 2.8% last week.

French stocks were down 0.7% after Lecornu named Roland Lescure, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, as finance minister on Sunday.

Eurozone banks dipped 0.6%, with French lenders Societe Generale, Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas leading declines.

Keeping broader losses at bay, oil and gas gained 0.8% tracking higher oil prices after OPEC+’s planned production increase for November was more modest than expected.

Technology stocksalso advanced 0.5%, with heavyweight ASML up 1.6% early on.

Among other moving stocks, SEB slid 22.3% after the French kitchenware maker cut its annual sales and profit forecast.

UK’s Aston Martin dropped 6.8% after the luxury carmaker warned of a full-year loss that would be bigger than market consensus.