The pan-European Stoxx 600 index provisionally closed 0.95% lower, with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Autos stocks were the biggest laggards, down 4%. Oil and gas stocks were the only ones to gain, adding 0.24%.
The Stoxx 600 ended the month of September 0.33% lower, LSEG data showed.
Milan-listed shares of Dodge-maker Stellantis shed 14.7% after the automaker trimmed its 2024 annual guidance amid deteriorating “global industry dynamics” and bolstered competition from China.
France’s Renault closed 5.6% lower on Monday, with German automakers Porsche down 4% and Volkswagen around 2% lower.
Shares of Britain’s Rightmove ended the day down 7.7% after Rupert Murdoch’s Australian property firm REA Group said it would no longer seek to buy the U.K.’s largest property portal. Rightmove rejected a fourth takeover proposal from REA Group earlier in the day, saying it undervalued the company.
The lackluster start for European markets comes after the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed at a fresh record high on Friday, as stocks got a boost from China’s announcement last week of a range of stimulus measures that aim to boost the economy.
Overnight in the Asia-Pacific region, stocks in mainland China spiked over 8% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled nearly 5%, as investors assessed key economic data from the two countries.
China’s official purchasing managers’ index reading came in at 49.8 for September, better than the 49.5 expected by economists polled by Reuters. However, the print marked a fifth straight month of contraction for the manufacturing sector in China.
Separate data from Japan showed industrial production in the country dropped 4.9% year on year in August, exceeding the 0.4% fall of the previous month.
U.S. stocks were last little changed on Monday after major U.S. averages logged their third consecutive week of gains.
German inflation drops
Back in Europe, Germany’s harmonized inflation rate eased to 1.8% in September, according to preliminary data published Monday, down from 2% in August. The reading had been forecast to come in at 1.9%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.
The figures are likely to boost the chances of another interest rate cut from the European Central Bank (ECB). Last week, preliminary data showed the harmonized inflation rate in both France and Spain plunged below the ECB’s 2% target in September.
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Elsewhere, U.K. house prices rose at their fastest annual pace in two years in September, according to figures published Monday from mortgage lender Nationwide.
The average property price rose by an annual rate of 3.2% this month, up from 2.4% in August, notching the fastest rate since November 2022. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a rise of 2.7% in September.
Sticking with the U.K., the economy was estimated to have expanded more slowly than previously forecast in the second quarter.
U.K. gross domestic product was estimated to have grown by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to data published Monday by the Office for National Statistics. That’s down from a previous estimate of 0.6%. Economists polled by Reuters had anticipated the 0.6% rise to be confirmed.