European stocks hovered near one-week lows on Tuesday amid concerns over Covid-19 shutdowns in China and the prolonged war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Sentiment was also dented by a rise in U.S. bond yields ahead of March inflation data, due out later in the day. <\/p>\n
The pan European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.6 percent to 455.73 after declining 0.6 percent on Monday. The German DAX dropped 1.1 percent, France’s CAC 40 index shed 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent.<\/p>\n
Italian defence group Leonardo jumped 4 percent after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to “buy”.<\/p>\n
Novartis declined 1.5 percent on reports the Swiss drugmaker would cut thousands of jobs in a global revamp. <\/p>\n
easyJet shares rose 0.7 percent in London. The budget airline said it expects capacity to rise to near pre-pandemic levels this summer.<\/p>\n
Online fashion retailer ASOS surged 4.7 percent after maintaining its full-year guidance.<\/p>\n
Electrocomponents added 1.7 percent after its like-for-like revenue for fiscal 2022 grew 23 percent over the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
EssilorLuxottica shares fell 1.7 percent in Paris. Luxottica Group S.p.A, an Italian eyewear company managed by EssilorLuxottica, said that it has entered into a preliminary deal to buy 1.72 million shares or 90.9 percent of the optical firm- Giorgio Fedon & Figli S.p.A. for 17.03 euros per share or 29.4 million euros.<\/p>\n
Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank lost 8-9 percent after an undisclosed investor sold stakes of more than 5 percent in the country’s top two lenders.<\/p>\n
In economic releases, German consumer price index rose 7.3 percent year-on-year, after a 5.1 percent increase in February, final data from Destatis showed. <\/p>\n
This was the biggest rate since German reunification and also matched the preliminary estimate published on March 30.<\/p>\n
The findings of the German ZEW survey revealed that German investor sentiment fell by less than expected in April. The ZEW economic research institute said its economic sentiment index fell to -41.0 points from -39.3 in March. Analysts had expected a reading of -48.0 for April.<\/p>\n
U.K. like-for-like sales dropped 0.4 percent in March from the previous year as consumer confidence continued to weaken, the British Retail Consortium said. Total sales grew 3.1 percent, underpinned by non-food sales.<\/p>\n
The U.K. unemployment declined in three months to February while job vacancies rose to a new record high, the Office for National Statistics said separately. <\/p>\n