Eurozone stock markets fell on Wednesday after the European Commission reprimanded France for breaching EU budget rules, a further blow for a country in the midst of political turmoil ahead of a surprise general election.
London markets rose on a sharp slowdown in British inflation, while shares in mobile phone giant Vodafone rose 2 percent after the company sold a majority stake in Indian mobile phone tower operator Indus Towers for $1.8 billion.
Paris led the stock market decline after the European Union's executive arm redesignated France as the EU's top public spending sinner for the first time since President Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017.
Investor sentiment has been shaken since President Macron called early general elections last week following the rise of far-right forces in European elections.
Macron's centrist coalition is currently third in opinion polls behind Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party and a new left-wing coalition called the New Popular Front.
Investors fear that tax cuts by the far right or a rollback of pension reforms by the left could seriously damage France's finances.
“France's CAC has fallen to the bottom again with Goldman Sachs warning that a Le Pen victory would see the country's debt burden balloon to its highest level since 1950,” Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahoney said of Wednesday's results.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets ended mixed after hitting another record high in New York on data raising hopes of a US interest rate cut.
U.S. retail sales fell more than expected in May, signaling fatigue among American consumers, a key driver of growth, suggesting the world's largest economy is slowing and giving central banks more room to ease monetary policy.
The figures helped somewhat offset a surprise surge in U.S. job creation, which showed the labor market remains strong despite a long period of rising interest rates and persistently high inflation.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq again set more records, driven by surging demand for big technology companies, with semiconductor giant Nvidia overtaking Microsoft to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company.
Artificial intelligence giant Nvidia has seen its market capitalization rise nearly 3,500 percent over the past five years to $3.349 trillion, and one analyst predicts it could reach $5 trillion next year, according to Bloomberg News.
Wall Street will be closed on Wednesday for a holiday.
– Key figures around 1100 GMT –
Paris – CAC 40: down 0.6% to 7,576.21 points
Frankfurt – DAX: down 0.3% to 18,076.08
Euro Stoxx 50: down 0.5% to 4,891.28
London – FTSE 100: up 0.1% to 8,196.20
Tokyo – Nikkei Stock Average: up 0.2% to 38,570.76 (closing price)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: up 2.9% to 18,430.39 (close)
Shanghai Composite Index: down 0.4% to 3,018.05 (closing price).
New York – Dow Jones Industrial Average: up 0.2% to 38,834.86 (closing price)
EUR/USD: Up to $1.0744 from $1.0743 on Tuesday
EUR/GBP: down from 84.50 pence to 84.39 pence
USD/JPY: down from 157.85 to 157.84
Pound to dollar: up from $1.2711 to $1.2731
West Texas Intermediate: down 0.2% to $81.43 a barrel.
Brent crude: down 0.1% to $85.25 per barrel
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