Staff of Reuters 2 minutes ReadFILE PHOTO: A graph of the German stock market index DAX is shown at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on June 29, 2021. Reuters/Staff/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/Reuters/ Concerns over increasing inflation and the Delta version of the coronavirus struck economically sensitive sectors in Europe on Wednesday, despite technology stocks tracking an overnight jump in U.S. tech equities to record highs. By 0718 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.1 percent, with banks, energy, and mining stocks down 0.3 percent to 0.8 percent. The European benchmark is on track to register its largest percentage rise in the first half of the year since 1998, although gains have recently slowed due to a combined whammy of rising inflation and the global spread of the highly contagious Delta variation. If the STOXX 600 drops 0.4 percent or more on Wednesday, it will be the best first half of the year since only 2019. The spotlight will be on German unemployment figures and euro zone inflation data due later in the day, after a significant gain in June economic confidence buoyed European market indices in the previous session. Grandvision, a Dutch eyeglasses retailer, rose 14% when EssilorLuxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, announced that it had decided to proceed with a planned takeover of the company. The stock of EssilorLuxottica was up 1.3 percent. Following the previous session’s record high close for the US Nasdaq, technology stocks surged 0.4 percent. Sagarika Jaisinghani contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Shounak Dasgupta edited the piece. Continue reading
