Markets in Europe were down on Tuesday’s closing bell, with rising political uncertainties weighing on the Stoxx 600. However the benchmark index pulled back from its biggest rally in about two months.
Utilities were one of the leading decliners as it edged down as much as 0.5 percent on the day. EDF was briefly placed on the negative territory after it announced a £1.5 billion (1.9 billion in USD) overspend for the new nuclear power plant in Britain which is the Hinkley Point. After the released news, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) downgraded its rating of EDF which results to a 3 percent drop in their stocks.
European stocks benchmark Stoxx 600 finished the day lower by 0.29 percent following a rally by 1.1 percent on the previous session, considered as its biggest one-day percentage advance since April 24. Most of the index’s major sector and bourses hit the bottom of the European benchmark.
Meanwhile on individual stocks, payment processing company WorldPay jumped more than 28 percent after it verified bids from JPMorgan and Vantiv. Germany-based pharmaceutical company Stada was also on the top of the European benchmark on reports that it could get a fresh takeover bid form buyout groups Cinven and Bain Capital. Stada’s basic offer of €5.3 billion (6 billion in USD) dropped last June. The generic drug maker was 2.2 percent higher in shares.
Basic resources cut back almost all of its losses from the session earlier and settled up more than 0.5 percent as it was aided by oil prices.