(Reuters) – European shares kicked off the week broadly unchanged on Monday, after two back-to-back weekly gains, as investors brace to assess a series of corporate earnings.
The Europe-wide STOXX 600 index had crawled up 0.05% at 0715 GMT.
It ended higher last week after the European Central Bank cut interest rates on Thursday and, according to Austria’s central bank governor, is on track to get inflation under control.
German software behemoth SAP, which comprises 15% of the country’s benchmark DAX index, will set the market’s mood when it reports third-quarter earnings, which will be scrutinized after chip gear maker’s ASML’s report last week sparked a rout in tech stocks.
Insurance stocks were among the losers as Munich Re fell more than 2% after Jefferies cut its rating on the stock to “hold”.
Coffee and tea company JDE Peet’s gained 10% after it appointed a new chief executive and confirmed its 2024 outlook.
Forvia, the world’s seventh largest car parts supplier by revenue, surged 6.5% to the top of the SBF120 despite reporting a slightly drop in third-quarter sales.
(Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
