European Shares Mostly Lower As Eurozone Inflation Rises More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - European stocks were broadly lower on Friday after data showed Eurozone inflation rose for the first time this year, reaching 2.6 percent year-on-year in May and adding to worries about slowly the European Central Bank will cut interest rates.

The pan European STOXX 600 was marginally lower at 516.44 after gaining 0.6 percent on Thursday.

The German DAX slid 0.1 percent and France's CAC 40 was flat with a negative bias while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 traded 0.4 percent higher as data showed U.K. house prices increased in May after two consecutive falls.

U.K. house prices gained 0.4 percent month-on-month in May, offsetting April's 0.4 percent decrease as the housing market showed signs of resilience amid ongoing affordability pressures, the Nationwide Building Society said.

As a result, the annual increase in house prices more than doubled to 1.3 percent from 0.6 percent in April.

In corporate news, semiconductor major STMicroelectronics N.V. dropped half a percent as it announced a plan to build a new manufacturing facility in Catania, Italy for the mass production of 200mm silicon carbide or SiC wafers.

Telecom Italia declined nearly 2 percent as U.S. investment firm KKR received unconditional EU antitrust approval for its acquisition of the telecom company's fixed-line network.

British construction group Galliford Try Holdings jumped more than 3 percent after securing two government contracts worth £101m.

Sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion plunged nearly 7 percent after reporting lower-than-expected full-year profits.

Online betting firm Flutter slumped 5.4 percent as it named a new group CFO.

French automaker Renault declined 1.4 percent after it announced a joint venture with Chinese partner Geely for hybrid combustion engines.