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 rose on a sharp slowdown in British inflation, while shares in mobile phone giant Vodafone rose 1.4 percent after the company sold a majority stake in Indian mobile 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 are worried that France's finances could be seriously weakened as a result of tax cuts by the far right or a repeal of pension reforms by the left.
“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.
Britain's consumer price inflation slowed to the central bank's target of 2.0 percent in May, data showed on Wednesday, but the Bank of England is seen as unlikely to cut interest rates when it meets on Thursday, just weeks before the July 4 general election.
“The decline in CPI is unlikely to improve Chancellor Rishi Sunak's ratings ahead of the upcoming UK election,” said Fawad Razakzada, an analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, noting that markets are not too concerned about the possibility of the Conservative Party being ousted from power.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets ended mixed after hitting another record high in New York on data raising hopes of a US interest rate cut.
Weaker than expected U.S. retail sales in May showed signs of fatigue among American consumers, a key driver of growth, suggesting the world's No. 1 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 was closed for trading on Wednesday for the holiday.
– Key figures around 15:30 GMT –
Paris – CAC 40: down 0.8% to 7,570.20 points (closing price)
Frankfurt – DAX: down 0.4% to 18,067.91 (close)
EURO STOXX 50: down 0.6% to 4,885.45 (closing price)
London – FTSE 100: up 0.2% to 8,205.11 (close)
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: Closed for holiday
EUR/USD: Up to $1.0745 from $1.0743 on Tuesday
EUR/GBP: down from 84.50p to 84.44p
USD/JPY: Rise from 157.85 to 157.90
Pound to dollar: up from $1.2711 to $1.2726
West Texas Intermediate: Up 0.2% to $81.72 a barrel.
Brent crude: up 0.2% to $85.50 a barrel
Byrds-RL/CW
FOX28 Spokane©
