Europe close: Stocks end on mixed note ahead of US CPI, ECB
European shares finished Wednesday's session on a mixed note as the latest China inflation data and a rising number of UK Covid cases kept a lid on sentiment.
Investors were also biding their time ahead of a key report on US consumer prices due out the next day.
"European markets have shown a touch more downside, with the likes of the Dax slightly skittish sitting at record highs, in case the ECB meeting does prove to be more exciting than anticipated. Still, it looks like the lack of volatility could be with us for quite some time yet, perhaps even up to the Jackson Hole meeting in late August," said IG chief market analyst, Chris Beauchamp.
"Notably, years like 2021 that have enjoyed strong gains for the first five months of the year don’t tend to see much summer volatility, but instead drift slightly higher until Q4, so if history is any guide 2021’s quiet nature seems set to continue."
Against that backdrop, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.09% at 454.44, while the Cac-40 was 0.19% higher alongside to 6,563.45.
A surge in cases of the India variant in the north of England stoked fears that the British government might have to delay the next easing of restrictions on June 21. The FTSE 100 index was down 0.2% to 7,081.01 on the news.
Overseas, China's producer price index (PPI) for May jumped 9% from a year earlier, against expectations of an 8.5% increase. The country’s consumer price index in May rose 1.3% from a year earlier, lower than an expected 1.6% rise.
Worth noting, according to the Pantheon Macroeconomics, with such price pressures the People's Bank of China was likely to feel "comfortable" shifting back towards tightening policy by the end of 2021.
In equity news, shares in Sweden's Sinch, the cloud communication services provider backed by Softbank, rose 5.6% after the company agreed to buy Australia-based mobile messaging platform MessageMedia in a $1.3bn deal.
The deal will see Sinch pay the sellers, which include funds managed by Mercury Capital, $1.1bn in cash and 1.1m new shares.
Travel food outlet operator SSP Group dipped after the company reported wider interim losses due to the pandemic, but said trading in the UK and North America had improved since the end of March as vaccine rollouts accelerated.
Airlines were also higher after the US CDC said it was easing travel recommendations on 110 countries and territories. Air France KLM, Lufthansa and British Airways-owner IAG all posted gains, as did Aeroports de Paris and Fraport.
Artificial hip and knee maker Smith & Nephew rose after an upgrade to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse.
Spanish retail giant Inditex gave back early gains despite reporting a forecast-busting first-quarter net profit of €421m.