European markets ended mostly lower on Thursday, with traders largely making cautious moves due to renewed concerns about U.S.-China trade tensions, profit warning by Societe Generale and on worries about the likely impact of the partial government shutdown in the U.S.
Traders were also looking for developments on the Brexit front. British Prime Minister Theresa May, after winning the confidence vote on Wednesday, is reportedly working on a new exit plan to try and break the current deadlock on Brexit.
Some of the markets in the region ended well off their lows with traders indulging in some selective buying.
Reports that the U.S. is pursuing criminal charges against Huawei for alleged theft of trade prompted investors to tread cautiously.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended slightly higher. Among the major indices in Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE edged down by 0.4%, the French CAC 40 shed 0.34% and Germany's DAX declined by 0.12%.
Spain, Poland, Norway, Netherlands, Italy and Ireland edged down marginally, while Greece ended sharply lower.
Switzerland's SMI ended stronger by nearly 0.5% and Sweden's benchmark OMX gained 0.34%. Turkey's BIST 100, another outpeformer in Europe today, moved up nearly 1.5%.
Societe Generale and BNP Paribas declined sharply and contributed to the weak close of the French market. BNP Paribas shed about 3.85% and Societe Generale shares plunged nearly 5.7%. Societe Generale said its fourth-quarter results would be affected by tough market conditions and the impact of some asset sales.
"The challenging market environment in global capital markets is expected to result in a decline in global markets and investor services revenue of approximately 20 percent in Q4 2018 versus Q4 2017 and of approximately 10 percent in 2018 vs. 2017, as well as a significant increase in market risk weighted assets," SocGen said, and added that it would book a one-off charge of 240 million euros as a result of some disposals carried out, such as the sale of SocGen Serbia and its stake in La Banque Postale Financement.
British stock Sage jumped more than 5% after the company maintained its full-year guidance. ITV tumbled by about 6% on rating downgrade by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
In economic news from Europe, a report from Eurostat said that Eurozone inflation slowed to 1.6% in December from last year, confirming its preliminary estimates released earlier in January.
According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the outlook for the U.K. housing market over the next quarter is the worst in 20 years due to uncertainty around Brexit.
Meanwhile, the U.S. market is off the day's lows. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 are gaining 0.21% and 0.23%, respectively, while the Dow is flat.
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