LONDON (ShareCast) - Europe's top stocks ended in negative territory, though Paris managed to close marginally higher, with a report on retail sales and broker downgrades weighing on investor sentiment.
Eurozone retail sales dropped a worse
than expected 0.4% month-on-month in May, official figures showed Friday.
Analysts had been expecting a 0.1% decline. Year-on-year sales in the 16-country currency area fell 3.3%, according to European Union statistics office Eurostat, also worse than predictions of a 2.7% decrease.
In May, compared with April, food, drinks and tobacco rose by 0.2%, while the non food sector decreased by 0.6%.
Elsewhere, Markit's Eurozone Services Purchasing Managers Index was revised up to 44.7 in June from the flash estimate of 44.5.
Across the markets, the German DAX closed down 10 points at 4,708 with the French CAC rising 3 points to 3,119. The Swiss market dropped 17 points to 5,338.
French utility EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) was leading the fallers in Paris after Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) cut its stance on the stock to 'equal weight' from 'overweight'.
Elsewhere in the sector, E.On and RWE (Xetra: 703712 - news) were down in sympathy.
Shares in France Telecom (Paris: FR0000133308 - news) also dropped after UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) downgraded the telecom giant to 'sell' from 'neutral'.
CAC 40 (Paris: news) - Risers
Dexia (DEXB) € 5.43 +2.92%
Danone (Paris: FR0000120644 - news) (BN) € 35.81 +2.39%
Unibail-Rodamco (UL) € 111.22 +2.21%
Bouygues (EN) € 26.19 +2.03%
BNP Paribas (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) (BNP) € 46.74 +1.95%
Credit Agricole (Paris: FR0000045072 - news) (ACA) € 9.11 +1.50%
Sanofi (Paris: FR0000120578 - news) -Aventis (SAN) € 42.83 +1.19%
Alstom (ALO) € 42.78 +0.98%
Schneider Electric (Paris: FR0000121972 - news) (SU) € 53.58 +0.75%
Accor (Paris: FR0000120404 - news) (AC) € 28.40 +0.53%
CAC 40 - Fallers
EDF (EDF) € 31.97 -4.50%
Pernod Ricard (Paris: FR0000120693 - news) (RI) € 44.84 -2.63%
Renault (RNO) € 24.98 -2.25%
Vallourec (VK) € 84.59 -2.21%
PPR (Paris: FR0000121485 - news) (PP) € 56.97 -1.78%
Peugeot (Paris: FR0000121501 - news) (UG) € 17.74 -1.75%
France Telecom (FTE) € 16.16 -1.55%
Lafarge (Paris: FR0000120537 - news) (LG (003550.KS - news) ) € 44.10 -1.47%
Essilor International (EI) € 34.90 -1.47%
Suez Environnement Company (SEV) € 12.26 -1.33%