The European markets were trading lower on Thursday afternoon, after the European Central Bank's second offering of its targeted longer term refinancing operation, or TLTRO, saw the demand for loans by banks remaining weak, but better than what was seen in the previous round in September.
The Frankfurt-based apex bank allotted 129.84 billion euros of the 317 billion euros offering, at 0.15 percent. The number of bidders rose to 306 from 255 in September. Economists had expected the take-up to be between 140 billion euros and 150 billion euros. The figures could once again open discussions about stimulus measures.
On a day of very little economic news, the Swiss National Bank maintained its currency ceiling and interest rate unchanged. The bank downgraded its inflation forecast as deflation risks increased again in the economy.
Germany's final harmonised index of consumer prices increased in November, data from the Federal Statistical Office revealed. The annual HICP inflation came in at 0.5 percent in November.
The EU measure of inflation for France slowed as expected in November, figures from the statistical office Insee showed. The harmonised index of consumer prices grew 0.4 percent year-on-year, in line with the consensus estimate. This was slower than the 0.5 percent rise in October.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks was losing 0.40 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, was falling 0.67 percent.
The German DAX lost 0.13 percent and the French CAC 40 declined 0.53 percent. The FTSE 100 index of the U.K. and Switzerland's SMI were down 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
In Frankfurt, chipmaker Infineon Technologies gained 1.6 percent and business software giant SAP added 1.4 percent.
Daimler and BMW advanced 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, utility RWE and Nivea maker Beiersdorf were moderately lower.
In Paris, Airbus dropped more than 3 percent. The company Wednesday forecast flat profit for 2016 and also informed of a delay in the delivery of its newest passenger jet, the A350 XWB wide-body aircraft, to Qatar Airways Ltd.
Hotel group Accor and building materials maker Saint Gobain fell moderately.
Oil services provider Technip gained 1.7 percent, and telecom firm Orange added 1.7 percent.
Lenders Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas were firmly in the green.
In London, Randgold Resources and Glencore dropped 3.3 percent each.
Bunzl declined 3 percent. The distribution and outsourcing group expects full-year currency-neutral group revenue growth to be around 6 percent.
Legal & General gained 1.7 percent. Nomura raised the stock to "Buy" from "Neutral."
Oil giants Royal Dutch Shell and BP were moderately higher.
Inditex, which reported 9-month results, gained 3 percent in Madrid.
The Asian stocks fell amid tumbling oil prices. Chinese shares fell on profit taking after recent gains, a stronger yen weighed on the Japanese market and Seoul shares tumbled in the aftermath of the central bank's decision to hold interest rates at a record low of 2 percent.
In the U.S., futures point to a cautious open on Wall Street. In the previous session, stocks tumbled as a pullback in energy stocks sparked a sell-off across the board. The Dow tumbled 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 plummeted 1.6 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.7 percent.
The sell-off in oil companies came after a report showed a surprise jump in oil inventories last week and oil cartel OPEC said it expects demand for crude next year to be the lowest since 2003.
Crude for January delivery gained $0.55 to $61.49 per barrel, while February gold fell $7.1 to $1222.3 a troy ounce.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis