(RTTNews) – After languishing in negative territory till about an hour before the closing bell on Thursday, a few markets in Europe managed to find some support in the final minutes to settle slightly above the flat line, while a few others ended weak.
The mood in the markets was largely cautious due to concerns about escalating tensions in the Middle East. Investors also digested some earnings updates and other corporate news.
After the United States launched a new wave of attacks in multiple locations across Iran on Wednesday night, Iran retaliated by launching fresh attacks on U.S. military bases in neighboring Gulf States.
The Iranian government warned the U.S. it would “key targets” in the Middle East if its infrastructure is targeted.
The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.16%. The UK’s FTSE 100 climbed up by about 0.5%, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC settled lower by 0.34% and 0.05%, respectively. Switzerland’s SMI settled 0.28% down.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain closed weak.
Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands and Türkiye ended higher, while Belgium and Sweden closed flat.
In the UK market, Diploma surged 6.3%. Metlen Energy & Metals climbed 5.5%, while Spirax Group, Kingfisher, Weir Group, Vodafone Group, British American Tobacco, Dieageo and Haleon gained 3%-4.2%.
Marks & Spencer, Segro, British Land Company, Imperial Brands, Land Securities Group, Bunzl, Burberry Group, IMI, GSK, Rentokil Initial and Associated British Foods also posted strong gains.
Miners Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining and Fresnillo lost 4.1%, 2.6% and 2.4%, respectively. Rio Tinto drifted down 1.8% and Anglo American Plc shed 1.7%.
St. James’s Place fell nearly 8%. Prudential, SSE, National Grid, IAG, Games Workshop and Experian also ended notably lower.
In the German market, Symrise, Gea Group, Beiersdorf and Henkel gained 1.4%-2%. Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Boerse and Brenntag moved up 1%-1.2%.
BASF advanced nearly 1% after raising its full-year outlook for EBITDA before special items.
Infineon shed nearly 4%. E.ON, Siemens Energy, RWE, Merck, Qiagen, Deutsche Post, Volkswagen, Rheinmetall and BMW lost 1%-2.3%.
In the French market, shares of advertising and communications company Publicis Groupe moved up 3% after the firm reported strong second-quarter results and raised its FY26 guidance.
The company’s second-quarter bottom line totaled EUR793 million, or EUR3.15 per share. This compares with EUR824 million, or EUR3.25 per share, last year. The company’s revenue for the period rose 1.1% to EUR7.229 billion from EUR7.152 billion last year.
Pernod Ricard moved up by over 3%. Michelin, Edenred, LVMH, Stellantis, Hermes International, AXA, Danone and Air Liquide gained 1%-1.8%.
STMicroelectronics tanked 8.4%. Schneider Electric, Legrand, Capgemini, Teleperformance, TotalEnergies, Engie, Orange, Bouygues, ArcelorMittal and Bouygues closed lower by 1%-2.2%
In economic news, data from the Office for National Statistics showed the UK economy expanded slightly in May driven by the service sector output. Gross domestic product grew 0.1%, offsetting a 0.1% fall in April, which was the first drop since October 2025. GDP was forecast to remain flat in May.
Services output rose 0.3% compared to a 0.1% fall in April. Partially offsetting this gain, industrial output declined 0.5%, following a 0.2% rise in April. Within industrial output, manufacturing edged up 0.1%.
At the same time, construction output shrank 0.8% after a 0.1% decrease in April.
On a yearly basis, GDP advanced 1.3% in May.
In three months to May, GDP grew 0.7%, following a growth of 0.8% in the three months to April. The economy expanded 1.1% from the same period last year.
Another data from ONS showed that the visible trade gap narrowed to four-month low of GBP 18.66 billion in May from GBP 24.58 billion in April. At the same time, the surplus on services trade rose slightly to GBP 17.6 billion from GBP 17.5 billion in the previous month.
