European Stocks Close On Mixed Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a mixed note on Monday as investors stayed largely cautious, looking ahead to inflation data from the U.S. and U.K. for directional cues.

UK inflation data and GDP report are due on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

The U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release the data on producer and consumer price inflation on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Investors also await U.S. retail sales and industrial production data this week.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down 0.02%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.52%, Germany's DAX edged up 0.02% and France's CAC 40 emded down 0.26%, while Switzerland's SMI crept up 0.07%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Portugal closed higher.

Belgium, Denmark, Iceland and Turkiye ended weak, while Finland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended flat.

In the UK market, BT Group shares climbed nearly 8.5% on reports that India's Barti Enterprises plans to acquire a 24.5% stake in BT for around $4 billion.

Entain gained about 4% and Centrica rallied 3.3%. BAE Systems, Endeavour Mining, Antofagasta, WPP, IMI, Marks & Spencer, ICG, BP, Glencore, Beazley, Smith (DS), Experian, M&G, Sage Group, Diageo and Informa gained 1 to 2%.

JD Sports Fashion lost about 4.1%. B&M European Value Retail, Burberry Group, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Whitbread, Unite Group, Easyjet and Haleon lost 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Rheinmetall rose sharply early on in the session, but pared most of its gains and ended just 1.4% up. The stock moved higher after the company said that it has been commissioned to supply main battle tanks and armoured recovery vehicles to the Czech Republic as part of a ring swap process commissioned by the German government to support Ukraine.

Hannover Rueck climbed more than 5% on strong second quarter earnings. The company has also confifmed its guidance for the full financial year.

RWE ended up 1.7%. Munich RE, Commerzbank, E.ON and Henkel posted moderate gains.

Sartorius ended nearly 3% down. Vonovia, Fresenius Medical Care, Beiersdorf, Adidas, Porsche, BMW, Daimler Truck Holding and HeidelbergCement lost 0.8 to 1.3%.

In the French market, Publicis Groupe, TotalEnergies, Unibail Rodamco, Credit Agricole, Engie and Societe Generale posted modest gains.

Kering ended down 1.85%. L'Oreal closed lower by about 1.6%, while Air Liquide, Vinci, AXA and Accor lost 0.7 to 1%.

On the economic front, Germany's wholesale prices continued to fall in July but the pace of decrease was marginal, data from Destatis showed.

Wholesale prices posted an annual drop of 0.1% in July after easing 0.6% in June.

The latest year-on-year decline was largely driven by the 8.4% fall in chemical product prices and 7.7 percent decrease in prices of iron, steel and semi-finished products, the data said.

Month-on-month, wholesale prices gained 0.3%, offsetting June's 0.3% fall. Economists had forecast a monthly growth of 0.2%.