LONDON: European STOCK MARKETS
moved firmly lower on Tuesday, with investors pegging the slide to traders using disappointing eurozone unemployment data as an excuse to bank gains after the best quarter in years.
“We’ve had a good run in Europe, so we’re seeing some book squaring after a good quarter,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC MARKETS. “Investors are using the unemployment data as an excuse to take profits.”
After a volatile trading day, the Stoxx Europe 600 index SXXP, -0.64% dropped 0.6% to close at 397.30. The index traded as high as 401.75 earlier in the day, but started to pare gains after the arrival of a mixed bag of eurozone economic reports.
The eurozone inflation rate improved in March to negative 0.1% from negative 0.3% the previous month, easing fears of deflation in the currency union. But eurozone unemployment for February came in at 11.3%, higher than the forecast of 11.2%.
January’s joblessness rate was raised to 11.4%, from 11.2%.
For the quarter, the pan-European benchmark jumped 16%, marking its best quarterly gain since the 17.8% rally logged in the third quarter of 2009.
