European Markets Close Mixed After Lackluster Session

European markets ended mixed on Monday as investors stayed cautious and largely refrained from making significant moves, closely tracking earnings and other corporate announcements.

Investors were also following news about the spread of coronavirus infections and updates on the vaccination front.

Continued optimism about economic rebound and hopes that central banks will continue to hold interest rates at very low levels for the foreseeable future supported the market, but activity was subdued due to a lack of significant triggers.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.1%. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 ended flat, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 edged down by 0.08% and Switzerland’s SMI shed 0.45%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway drifted lower, while Belgium ended flat.

In the UK market, Berkeley Group Holdings, Lloyds Banking Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Glencore, Barclays, Sainsbury (J), M&G, Rio Tinto, Kingfisher, British Land Company and BHP Group gained 1.6 to 3.1%.

Shares of polymer company Victrex rallied more than 7%, riding on a 5% jump in sales in the first half of this financial year and a rating upgrade from JP Morgan. The company also said it remains comfortable with current full year expectations.

Among the losers, Scottish Mortgage tumbled more than 6%. Flutter Entertainment, Just Eat Takeaway, Intertek Group, Whitbread, Rightmove, Experian, Reinshaw, IHG, ICP and Pershing Square Holdings lost 2 to 4%.

In the French market, Technip, Credit Agricole, Renault, Unibail Rodamco, Societe Generale, ArcelorMittal, BNP Paribas and Carrefour moved up sharply.

Schneider Electric, Danone, STMicroElectronics and Veolia lost 2 to 3%. WorldLine, Dassault Systemes, Teleperformance, Hermes International and LVMH also ended notably lower.

In Germany, Fresenius gained nearly 4%. Thyssenkrupp, Adidas, BMW, Covestro, Lufthansa, HeidelbergCement and Beiersdorf moved up 1 to 2.5%. BioNTech shares surged more than 7% after the company revealed plans to build a new manufacturing site for its vaccines based on mRNA technology in Singapore.

Infineon Technologies, RWE, SAP and Vonovia ended notably lower.

In economic releases, Eurozone investor confidence improved to the highest level in more than three years in May, survey results from Sentix showed. The investor confidence index rose notably to 21.0 in May from 13.1 in April, suggesting that the recession caused by the coronavirus has been overcome. The score was the highest since March 2018.

U.K. house prices reached a record high in April as stamp duty holiday continued to provide impetus to the property market, data from Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed.

House prices grew 1.4% month-on-month in April, following a 1.1% rise in March. The average property was valued at GBP 258,204. On a yearly basis, house prices growth accelerated to 8.2% from 6.5% a month ago. This was the highest annual rate in five years.