LONDON (ShareCast) - European markets closed largely lower as gains in the pharma sector were offset by weak banking and energy stocks.
Energy shares were slightly lower with Total and Royal Dutch Shell (Amsterdam: RDSA.AS
- news) paring some gains following the recent rally in crude oil prices.
Banks including France's Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) and Germany's Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) were also down.
Elsewhere in the sector, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has sold its fund management arm, Barclays Global Investors, to US asset manager BlackRock (NYSE: BLK - news) for £8.1bn ($13.5bn).
Across the markets, the German DAX closed down 38 points at 5,069 with the French CAC falling 9 points at 3,326. The Swiss market was up 37 points to 5,521.
On the positive side, pharmaceutical stocks were on the rise, with Novartis (Virt-X: NOVN.VX - news) , Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis and Germany's Merck (MERK.JK - news) all going well.
Novartis made its first batch of its H1N1 vaccine ahead of expectations and said it is planning to start clinical trials in July.
In economic news, eurozone industrial production plunged a record 21.6% in April from a year earlier, official figures showed.
Compared with last month, production dropped a larger-than-expected 1.9%, according to the European Union statistics office.
"The April industrial production data for the Eurozone are very disappointing and raise concern that the region is lagging in terms of signs of recession easing," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers
Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) (LG (003550.KS - news) ) € 50.69 +3.27%
Dexia (DEXB) € 6.43 +3.06%
Sanofi-Aventis (SAN) € 47.51 +2.71%
Air France (Paris: FR0000031122 - news) -KLM (AF (Stockholm: 45674.ST - news) ) € 10.00 +1.84%
Schneider Electric (Paris: FR0000121972 - news) (SU) € 55.95 +1.68%
Saint Gobain (Paris: FR0000125007 - news) (SGO) € 26.47 +1.28%
Vivendi (Paris: FR0000127771 - news) (VIV) € 17.65 +0.86%
BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) (BNP) € 49.90 +0.71%
Danone (Paris: FR0000120644 - news) (BN) € 34.30 +0.69%
Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) (UG) € 22.66 +0.64%
CAC 40 - Fallers
ArcelorMittal SA (MT) € 25.10 -2.69%
Total (FP) € 40.60 -2.30%
Cap Gemini (Paris: FR0000125338 - news) (CAP) € 26.01 -2.22%
AXA (CS) € 14.47 -2.03%
Alcatel (Paris: FR0000130007 - news) -Lucent (ALU) € 2.01 -2.00%
Vinci (Paris: FR0000125486 - news) (DG) € 33.14 -1.89%
Credit Agricole (ACA) € 11.00 -1.79%
PPR (Paris: FR0000121485 - news) (PP) € 61.88 -1.53%
L'Oreal (Paris: FR0000120321 - news) (OR) € 53.85 -1.48%
Vallourec (VK) € 93.00 -1.27%
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