European Stocks End On Mixed Note Despite Strong Economic Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a somewhat mixed note on Friday, failing to hold gains, as the mood turned a bit cautious during the final hour of the session despite upbeat U.S. jobs data.

Worries about rising cases of the delta variant of the coronavirus and travel restrictions in several countries continued to weigh, placing a cap on markets' upside.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.26%. Germany's DAX advanced 0.3%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and France's CAC 40 edged down 0.03% and 0.01%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended down 0.1%. The DAX gained about 0.2% in the week, while the FTSE 100 and CAC 40 shed 0.2% and 1%, respectively.

Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Denmark, Greece and Spain ended weak, while Austria, Belgium and Poland closed flat.

In the UK market, Informa gained about 3.2%. Polymetal International, Aveva Group, Anglo American Plc, British Land Co., Rolls-Royce Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, Evraz and Glencore gained 1.5 to 2.5%.

Shares of food delivery firm Deliveroo rallied sharply after the company agreed to extend partnership with French supermarket group Casino for two years.

Standard Chartered, Natwest Group, Barclays Group, Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC Holdings, Johnson Matthey, Schrodders, CRH and Legal & Generale shed 1 to 2.4%.

In France, STMicroElectronics, Airbus Group, Sodexo, Atos, Teleperformance, Dassault Systemes and WorldLine gained 1 to 2.3%, while Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Technip and Orange lost 1 to 2.6%.

In the German market, Puma, Vonovia, Deutsche Boerse, Deutsche Post, Adidas, SAP and Beiersdorf ended with moderate gains.

Fresenius Medical Care and Deutsche Bank declined sharply. HeidelbergCement too ended on a weak note.

In eurozone economic news, producer prices in Eurozone increased at a faster pace in May driven by a surge in energy cost, data from Eurostat showed.

The report said industrial producer prices were up 9.6% year-on-year, following a 7.6% rise in April. Economists had forecast an annual increase of 9.5%. On a monthly basis, producer prices climbed 1.3%, faster than April's 0.9% rise and economists' forecast of 1.2%.

Producer prices in the EU27 increased 1.4% on month in May, taking the annual growth to 9.6%.

Spain's unemployment logged its biggest fall on record in June, data from labor ministry showed. The number of registered unemployment decreased by 166,911 in June after falling 129,378 in May. This was the fourth consecutive decrease.

The U.S. Labor Department's report showed a continued reacceleration in the pace of U.S. job growth in the month of June. The report showed non-farm payroll employment spiked by 850,000 jobs in June after surging by an upwardly revised 583,000 jobs in May.

Economists had expected employment to jump by about 700,000 jobs compared to the addition of 559,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate unexpectedly inched up to 5.9% in June from 5.8% in May. The unemployment rate was expected to edge down to 5.7%.