Major European Markets Close On Mixed Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks ended on a mixed note on Tuesday with traders largely making cautious moves as they looked ahead to U.S. inflation data, due later in the week, for clues about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.

Quarterly earnings updates provided some direction. Investors continued to follow news about rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Shares of mining companies moved up on firm commodity prices.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.01%. Germany's DAX gained 0.24% and France's CAC 40 moved up 0.27%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.08% and Switzerland's SMI drifted down 0.31%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey closed higher.

Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden drifted lower, while Ireland and Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, IAG, Polymetal International and Anglo American Plc gained 3.1 to 3.8%. Intercontinental Hotels, St. James Place and BT Group advanced 2.2 to 2.4%.

Rio Tinto, Whitbread, British American Tobacco, BAE Systems, Glencore, Legal & General, Persimmon, Rolls-Royce Holdings and B&M European Value Retail also moved up sharply.

Shares of BP gained some ground in positive territory after the company boosted share buybacks after delivering a big rise in fourth-quarter profit.

Ocado Group plunged nearly 13% after its annual loss widened. The company's core earnings fell 12.1% in 2021. The company has warned that 2022 core earnings are unlikely to meet market expectations.

Airtel Africa tumbled 8.6%, while Shell, Croda International, DCC, BP, Sage Group, Kingfisher, Admiral Group, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, JD Sports Fashion, Auto Trader Group, Experian and Aveva Group shed 1 to 3.2%.

In the German market, Deutsche Bank climbed more than 5%. Continental shed 4.4%, while Covestro, MTU Aero Engines, Allianz, BASF, Henkel, HeidelbergCement, RWE, Munich and Deutsche Telekon lost 1 to 2.3%.

HelloFresh declined nearly 6%. Sartorius ended nearly 5% down, while Merck, Zalando, Qiagen, Vonovia, Fresenius Medical Care, Infineon Technologies and SAP shed 1 to 4%.

In Paris, Valeo surged up 5%. ArcelorMittal, Unibail Rodamco, Michelin, Airbus Group, Orange, AXA, Vinci, Publicis Groupe, Bouygues, Thales, Veolia and Air Fance-KLM gained 1.4 to 3.2%.

BNP Paribas, which declined sharply early on in the session, recovered subsequently and finally ended the day with a gain of about 0.5%. The lender reported that its fiscal 2021 net income attributable to equity holders climbed to 9.49 billion euros from last year's 7.07 billion euros. However, Interest income declined to 29.52 billion euros from prior year's 31.17 billion euros.

Ams OSRAM rallied more than 9% after delivering healthy full-year and fourth-quarter results.

Dassault Systemes and WorldLine both ended lower by about 2.5%. Hermes International, LVMH and Kering also declined sharply.

In economic releases, France's trade deficit widened notably at the end of 2021 driven by the increase in imports, data from the customs office showed.

The trade shortfall increased to EUR 11.3 billion from EUR 9.76 billion in November. In the same period last year, the deficit was EUR 4.15 billion.

Exports dropped 0.4% from November, while imports increased 2.5%, data showed. On a yearly basis, exports and imports advanced 13.5% and 24.7%, respectively.

Data released by the Bank of France, on Tuesday, showed that the current account deficit widened to EUR 12.9 billion in the fourth quarter from EUR 5.0 billion in the third quarter.

Data showed U.K. retail sales grew at a stronger pace in January due to the easing of lockdown restrictions.

Like-for-like sales grew 8.1% in January from the previous year, data from the British Retail Consortium and KPMG showed. At the same time, overall sales increased 11.9% on a yearly basis in January.