(Reuters) – European shares fell on Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street after the U.S. Federal Reserve signalled higher-for-longer interest rates and ahead of rate decisions from the Swiss National Bank, Riksbank, Norges Bank and Bank of England.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index shed 0.6% by 0709 GMT, with rate-sensitive tech stocks easing 0.8%.
Commodity-linked sectors like mining and energy fell over 1% each, leading early losses as metal and crude prices weakened against a stronger dollar.
The Fed held key interest rates steady on Wednesday, as widely expected, and revised economic projections higher with warnings that the battle against inflation was far from over.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 1.5% lower.
The focus is now also on the monetary policy decisions in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and the UK later in the day after the European Central Bank (ECB) raised its key interest rate last week to a record high of 4%.
UK’s FTSE 100 eased 0.5% ahead of the BoE’s decision on whether it will halt a run of rate hikes that stretches back to December 2021 after data on Wednesday showed an unexpected drop in inflation.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
