European markets lose momentum as US closed for Juneteenth holiday

European stocks closed mostly lower as momentum stalled in the absence of direction from US markets which were closed for the Juneteenth holiday.

The Stoxx 600 index ended the day down 0.17 per cent with tech stocks leading the move lower closing down 1.15 per cent. The best performing sector was Mining which closed 0.65 per cent higher.

The U.K.’s FTSE 100 rallied in the afternoon session to close up 0.17 per cent following the release of UK May inflation data. Inflation rose by an annual 2.0 per cent in May, hitting the Bank of England’s target ahead of its policy rate decision on Thursday. The Bank is widely expected to hold rates steady at 5.25 per cent, with the majority of economists polled by Reuters forecasting a cut in August.

Sterling rose slightly after the release, and was trading at $1.2722 at 4:35 p.m. London time.

In company news, Games Workshop shares surged 9 per cent after the British firm forecast higher pre-tax profit of £200 million in a full-year trading update.

Data from the euro zone on Tuesday showed inflation in the single-currency euro area rose at an annual rate of 2.6 per cent in May, up from 2.4 per cent in April, the EU’s statistical office Eurostat confirmed in a final reading. Annual inflation within the wider EU was 2.7 per cent, up from 2.6 per cent the previous month.

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent fall.

Currency

One Australian dollar at 7.30am was buying 66.71 US cents.

Commodities

Gold has fallen 0.18 per cent. Silver has added 0.86 per cent. Copper has risen 0.57 per cent. Oil has lost 0.12 per cent.

Figures around the globe

European markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE gained 0.17 per cent, Frankfurt lost 0.35 per cent, and Paris closed 0.77 per cent lower.

Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei added 0.23 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.87 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.40 per cent lower.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed 0.11 per cent lower at 7,769.72.

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.

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