European Markets Close Lower as China Stimulus Rally Fades; OECD Upgrades UK Growth Forecast
European stocks closed slightly lower Wednesday following a choppy session, as a China-fuelled rally lost steam.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 ended down 0.11%, with sectors and major bourses pointing in opposite directions.
Europe's banking index closed 0.73% lower as market participants spent the day closely monitoring UniCredit's swoop for Commerzbank, Germany's second-largest lender.
Milan-based UniCredit announced on Monday that it had increased its stake in Commerzbank to around 21% and submitted a request to boost that holding to up to 29.9%. It follows UniCredit's move to take a 9% stake in Commerzbank earlier this month.
Shares of Commerzbank, which announced Wednesday that Bettina Orlopp will take over as chief executive officer in the near future, added 0.82%.
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday sharply upgraded Britain's economic growth prospects.
The OECD said it expects the U.K. economy to expand by 1.1% this year and 1.2% next year. That's up from previous forecasts of 0.4% growth in 2024 and 1% in 2025. The revisions come after the OECD said in May that the U.K. was likely on course to become the worst-performing economy of all advanced nations next year.
Source : CNBC
