By Ragini Mathur
April 23 (Reuters) – European shares fell on Thursday as renewed shipping concerns in the strategic Strait of Hormuz dampened investor sentiment, while market participants parsed through a wave of corporate earnings reports.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.4% at 611.53 points, as of 0853 GMT.
Most of the major regional markets mirrored this downward trend, with Germany’s DAX and London’s FTSE 100 dropping 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.
There was hardly any reprieve in the Middle East conflict as Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, after President Donald Trump made what appeared to be a unilateral announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. would extend the Iran ceasefire.
The developments left markets nervous about whether the fragile ceasefire would hold.
“The absence of any peace talks between the U.S. and Iran has led investors to price in a longer conflict again, along with a more extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” analysts at Deutsche Bank Research said.
CORPORATE EARNINGS ON TAP
Investors were navigating the peak of Europe’s corporate earnings season, scrutinizing reports for insights into how the Iran conflict is affecting businesses.
Many companies struck a cautious tone in their results earlier this month, citing higher energy prices, supply-chain disruption and slower growth.
Nestle shares jumped 6.8% on Thursday after the world’s biggest packaged food company maintained full-year organic growth forecast of 3%-4%, saying it had seen “very little impact” so far on global business from the Iran war.
Food and beverages sector rose 1.6%.
Telecom sector led sectoral gains with a 2.2% climb. Nokia stock rose 9% to its highest level in 16 years after the network gear maker raised the growth targets for its AI business and beat first-quarter profit estimates.
Personal and household goods index gained 0.6%. L’Oreal shares jumped 8.4%, on track for their best day since 2008, after the French cosmetics group posted first-quarter sales that beat analysts’ expectations.
French drugmaker Sanofi rose 3.7% after it reported first-quarter profit and revenue above market expectations. Healthcare sector edged 0.2% higher.
Energy sector gained 1.1% as Brent crude futures were up more than 1% to over $100 a barrel.
On the flip side, travel and banking stocks traded at the bottom, down 2% each.
Axfood shares fell 7.7% after the Swedish food retailer posted first-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ expectations.
Fresh economic data showed business activity in the euro zone suffered a surprise contraction in April with the Iran war sapping demand as prices soared.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Shreya Biswas)
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