European shares end marginally lower on tech drag; Fed in focus By Reuters

By Shubham Batra and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -Europe’s closed slightly lower on Monday as losses in heavyweight technology shares weighed on the index, while the focus remained on the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to kick off its policy easing cycle this week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended 0.2% lower, snapping a three-day winning streak.

Europe’s tech index dipped 1.2%, the biggest percentage decliner amongst major STOXX sectors, following its near 5% jump last week.

Retail led advances with an 0.9% rise, boosted by a 3.1% increase in H&M (ST:).

All eyes will be on the U.S. central bank’s interest rate decision on Wednesday, with money markets pencilling in a 61% chance of a 50-basis-point rate cut, and a total easing of 120 bps in 2024.

“With the Fed set to hop aboard the (rate-cut) bandwagon, a global easing cycle should be a tailwind for equities after the European Central Bank opted to cut rates for the second time in three months,” wrote analysts at Glenmede led by Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy & research.

“Momentum behind global easing cycles has historically been a bullish signal for equities in the short-to-medium term.”

Central bank rate decisions in Norway and the UK will also be on investors’ radar this week.

The ECB’s chief economist Philip Lane said the bank should keep cutting interest rates gradually, but its policymakers expressed differing views on how to signal their intent given economic uncertainty.

Among individual movers, France’s Rexel jumped 9.1% after the Paris-listed group rebuffed an around $9.4 billion acquisition offer from billionaire Brad Jacobs-led QXO.

French drugmaker Ipsen rose 3.7% after RBC raised its rating to “outperform” from “sector perform”, seeing mid-term support from its liver disease drug Iqirvo (PBC) after its U.S. FDA approval in June.

On the flip side, shares of Nestle weighed on the benchmark index with a 1% fall after Morgan Stanley cut the stock’s rating to “underweight” and reduced its target price.

France’s Worldline slumped 15.2%, extending losses from Friday when the payments group said its long-time CEO Gilles Grapinet would leave the company as it issued its third profit warning.

Phoenix Group shed 5.3% after the British insurer halted the sale process of its SunLife business due to market uncertainty.