European Markets Finished Mostly Lower After Rally Last Week

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Monday's session mostly to the downside. However, the German DAX fared better on the strength of its utilities, which were up after they passed a nuclear stress test.

Following the strong performance of the previous trading week, a bit of profit taking is to be expected. There was very little global economic data to drive trading Monday and holidays in Japan and the United States had some investors on the sidelines. Investors also exercised caution ahead of a number of important corporate earnings reports in the U.S. later this week.

Implementing structural reforms as demanded by Greece's lenders would bring the country's economy back to growth path, European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi said in an interview with Sunday's edition of Kathimerini newspaper.

"The Greek government will have to show that it has assumed ownership of the program and that it is determined to fulfill its requirements," he said.

The key element over the coming months would be the discussion about Greek debt sustainability, Draghi observed.

Further, Draghi said the quantitative easing programme is working better than expected. "We are satisfied with QE, as it has met and even surpassed our initial expectations."

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.09 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.04 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed 0.23 percent, but the CAC 40 of France fell 0.27 percent. The FTSE of the U.K. declined 0.70 percent, but the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.30 percent.

In Frankfurt, RWE soared 8.94 percent and E.ON surged 4.91 percent, after the German government said they have enough nuclear-energy provisions to meet future obligations.

Volkswagen increased 2.27 percent. BMW climbed 1.73 percent and Daimler added 1.82 percent.

In Paris, Safran declined 5.07 percent. Media reports suggest European watchdogs have begun a probe into whether airlines are being forced to enter anti-competitive aircraft maintenance contracts. Rolls Royce declined 3.90 percent in London.

Cap Gemini surrendered 1.89 percent after Indian peer Infosys Technologies reported second-quarter results.

In London, Glencore fell 6.16 percent, after it said it is starting a process to sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile.

SABMiller decreased 1.28 percent, despite the news that AB InBev has again raised its takeover bid for the British brewer to 43.50 pounds per share in cash, or $66.8 per share.

Credit Suisse climbed 1.64 percent in Zurich. The Schweiz am Sonntag reported, citing several managers of sub-units in the bank, that the lender plans to cut costs by 7 percent to 10 percent, which would translate into an annual reduction of 1.5 to 2 billion Swiss francs for the group.

The French current account balance showed a surplus in August, the Bank of France said Monday. The current account surplus totaled EUR 0.2 billion in August, in contrast to a EUR 0.4 billion deficit seen a month ago.