\n<\/p>\n
European markets<\/span> closed mostly lower on Friday, as data showing a contraction in euro zone economic growth outweighed encouraging earnings reports from a few top name companies.<\/p>\n Uncertainty about the pace of global economic rebound due to continued spikes in coronavirus<\/span> cases in the Asian region, especially in India and Japan, hurt as well.<\/p>\n The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 0.31%. Germany’s DAX ended 0.12% down and France’s CAC 40 shed 0.53%, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.12%. Switzerland’s SMI declined 0.52%.<\/p>\n Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey all ended weak.<\/p>\n In the UK market, AstraZeneca gained 4.3% on strong results. The pharmaceutical giant said it generated $275m in revenue from its non-profit Covid-19 vaccine in the first quarter.<\/p>\n Smurfit Kappa Group shares gained 4.2%, also on strong earnings. The provider of paper-based packaging solutions reported that its first-quarter underlying revenue growth was 6% from last year.<\/p>\n Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Hargreaves Lansdown, ICP, Imperial Brands, Rolls-Royce Holdings, M&G, Severn Trent, United Utilities, British American Tobacco, National Grid and B&M moved up 2 to 3.1%.<\/p>\n On the other hand, Barclays Group shed 7% despite reporting a quarterly profit that more than doubled. Ocado Group lost 4% and Flutter Entertainment shed 3.2%. <\/p>\n BNP Paribas despite reporting better-than-expected profit, helped by lower provisions for pandemic-related bad loans and a rebound in equity trading.<\/p>\n Anglo American, Weir Group, Antofagasta, DCC, Aveva and Polymetal International also ended notably lower.<\/p>\n In France, STMicroElectronics, ArcelorMittal, Faurecia, Accor, Essilor, Air France-KLM, Pernod Ricard and LVMH ended sharply lower. BNP Paribas declined despite reporting better-than-expected profit.<\/p>\n Kering, Saint Gobain, Bouygues, Vinci and Carrefour ended with sharp to moderate gains. Safran rose sharply after maintaining full-year forecasts.<\/p>\n In the German market, BASF tumbled nearly 5%. Adidas, HeidelbergCement, SAP and Covestro also closed weak.<\/p>\n MTU Aero Engines rallied nearly 5% and Fresenius gained about 2.5%. Lufthansa, Fresenius Medical Care and Bayer also closed on firm note.<\/p>\n In economic releases, Eurozone GDP shrank by 0.6% in the first three months of this year as slow vaccine rollout and ongoing lockdowns delayed recovery, new figures from Eurostat showed.<\/p>\n The euro zone jobless rate fell to 8.1% in March, down from 8.2% in February and better than expectation of 8.3%.<\/p>\n France’s inflation rose to a 14-month high in April on higher energy and services prices, preliminary data from the statistical office Insee showed. In a separate communiqu\u00e9, the statistical office showed that household consumption declined sharply in March due to the significant fall in manufactured goods purchases.<\/p>\n Consumer price inflation rose to 1.3% in April, as expected, from 1.1% in March. This was the highest since February 2020, when the rate was 1.4%.<\/p>\n U.K. house prices grew 2.1% month-on-month in April, the biggest monthly rise since February 2004, data published by the Nationwide Building Society showed. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.5% after posting a 0.3% drop in March.<\/p>\n On a yearly basis, house prices inflation rose to 7.1% from 5.7% in March. The rate was expected to slow to 5% in April. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n