European shares post quarterly loss as markets await French elections

Shafaq News/ European shares gave up early gains to close lower on Friday as a drop in shares of beauty giant L'Oreal weighed on the market. The benchmark index also recorded weekly, monthly, and quarterly declines amid political uncertainties in France.

According to Reuters, the pan-European STOXX 600 closed 0.2% lower, extending losses to the fourth straight session.

The personal and household goods sector shed 1%, dragged by a 3% fall in French beauty giant L'Oreal after its CEO gave a lower market growth forecast during a Fireside Chat hosted by J.P.Morgan.

The benchmark STOXX 600 recorded its first quarterly loss in three, along with a monthly and weekly decline, amid political uncertainties in France following President Emmanuel Macron's call for a snap election earlier this month.

France's benchmark CAC 40 index lost 0.7%, ending 8.8% lower for the quarter, underperforming the region's bourses.

Reuters reported that the risk premium on French government bonds hit its highest point in 2012.

Technology stocks rose 0.4%, tracking record-setting gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, as a softer inflation reading firmed bets of a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

Among other stocks, Nokia (HE: NOKIA) added 1.5% after the Finnish firm agreed to buy Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) Corp in a deal with an enterprise value of $2.3 billion.

Britain's largest sportswear retailer, JD (NASDAQ: J.D.) Sports fell more than 5.4% after U.S. peer Nike (NYSE: NKE) forecast a surprise drop in 2025 revenue, while German peer Puma also lost 2.5%

Air France-KLM dropped 4.1% to a record low after Barclays cut the Franco-Dutch airline group to "equal-weight" from "overweight" due to political uncertainty.

Finland's Fortum shed 4.6% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the utility to "sell" on limited share upside and weaker profit and investment outlooks.