European Shares Retreat On Skepticism About Peace Talks

European stocks were moving lower on Wednesday after seeing sharp gains the previous day on hopes for a breakthrough in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

Ukraine reacted with skepticism to Russia’s promise in negotiations to scale down military operations while the United States warned the threat isn’t over.

U.S President Joe Biden asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault.

The pan European Stoxx 600 dropped 0.7 percent to 459.10 after rallying 1.7 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX lost 1.3 percent and France’s CAC 40 index shed 0.7 percent while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 was marginally higher, led by gains in the mining sector.

Norway’s Aker Offshore Wind AS plunged 12 percent after it announced an all-stock merger to be combined with Aker Horizons ASA.

Miners rallied, with Anglo American and Glencore gaining around 3 percent each.

Banks fell broadly, with BNP Paribas, Barclays, Lloyds Bank and Commerzbank losing 2-4 percent.

Savannah Resources, a lithium development company, rose over 1 percent after it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss technology major ABB Ltd.

Stratec SE, a manufacturer of automated analyzer systems, plunged 6.7 percent after its fourth-quarter earnings per share fell 63 percent.

q.beyond AG jumped 3 percent. The German company said it plans to increase 2022 revenues by at least 16 percent to between 180 million euros and 200 million euros.

In economic releases, U.K. shop prices increased at the fastest pace in more than a decade in March, data released by the British Retail Consortium showed earlier today.

The shop price index advanced 2.1 percent on a yearly basis in March, following a 1.8 percent rise in February. This was the fastest increase since September 2011. Non-food prices were up 1.5 percent.