FX.co ★ European Shares Decline Ahead Of Easter Break

Trade in European stocks was relatively steady, with minor drops on Tuesday. Key European and U.S. inflation readings and the upcoming Easter break were of particular interest to investors. The recent admission by Russian President Vladimir Putin that radical Islamist groups were behind the recent Moscow concert hall attack, with implications of Ukrainian involvement, also contributed to the geopolitical unease.

Putin publicly stated, "We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries".

Economic reports indicate that German consumer confidence is projected to rise in April, as the consumer confidence index increased to -27.4 in April from a revised figure of -28.8 in March. The data was collected by market research group GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions (NIM).

Meanwhile, Spanish economic growth rates rose at the end of the year, matching preliminary reports. Spain’s GDP grew by 0.6 percent from the third quarter’s growth of 0.4 percent. The annual growth rate rose to 2.0 percent, a slight increase from the 1.9 percent of the prior period.

European stock index, STOXX 600, declined by 0.2 percent, standing at 508.93 after a neutral performance on Monday. Similar minor declines were observed in the German DAX and France's CAC 40, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 remained largely unchanged, with a slight negative bias.

In corporate news, online grocery retailer Ocado's shares grew about 2 percent following a strong first-quarter performance with a reported 10.6 percent growth in revenue year-on-year. Similarly, Flutter Entertainment also saw a near 2 percent rise in shares after announcing positive 2023 financial results.

Smiths Group shares saw a 3 percent rise following the engineering group's announcement of a £100m share buyback after strong half-year earnings. However, homebuilding company Bellway's stocks fell 1 percent after its pretax profits declined in the first half.

Construction machinery maker Wacker Neuson SE saw a 1.2 percent drop in stock value as it forecasted high levels of uncertainty due to unpredictable political and economic developments, expecting a flat or slightly lower growth in all its regions and segments for the full year.

Wind turbine manufacturer, Nordex SE, saw a 1 percent increase in shares after securing an order to supply and install 57 N163/5.X turbines from the Delta4000 series in South Africa to an undisclosed customer.