By Amruta Khandekar and Siddarth S
(Reuters) -European shares inched lower on Monday, led by healthcare, while defence stocks fell after an aborted weekend mutiny in Russia.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index slipped 0.1% as of 1600 GMT, extending losses for its sixth straight session.
Russia sought to restore calm on Monday after the aborted mutiny by Wagner Group mercenaries, while Western allies assessed how President Vladimir Putin might reassert authority and what it could mean for the war in Ukraine.
Shares of major European defence firms Leonardo SpA, Saab AB and Rheinmetall AG each dropped more than 4%, weighing on the European aerospace and defence sub-index which fell 0.9%.
“What we’ve seen today is probably people pricing in that the war in Ukraine could end a little bit sooner and so a lot of the defence companies have fallen,” said Shanti Kelemen, chief investment officer at M&G Wealth and &me.
“It’s too early to price something into the market, that’s why the really limited move on defence stocks.”
Energy stocks gained 0.8% on steady oil prices despite geopolitical uncertainty in Russia. [O/R]
The healthcare index fell 1.1% and was a big drag on the STOXX 600 index, which has come under pressure on concerns about an economic slowdown from a potentially longer-than-expected global interest rate hiking cycle.
The index logged its biggest weekly percentage drop in three months on Friday at the end of a week filled with central bank events when data reflected weak European business growth in June.
Germany’s DAX index eased 0.1% after a survey showed business morale in Europe’s largest economy worsened for the second consecutive month in June.
Siemens Energy fell for a second consecutive day, hit by a raft of target price cuts and rating downgrades as problems at its wind turbine division turned out to be worse than expected last week.
Among other stocks, shares of Aston Martin rose 10.8% after the British luxury carmaker said it would enter an agreement with Lucid Group to make “high performance” electric vehicles (EVs).
Cineworld Group dropped 17.9% after the British cinema chain operator said it would file for administration as part of a proposed restructuring plan.
Shares of SBB climbed 5.2% after the Swedish real estate company entered talks to sell the remaining 51% of its education subsidiary.
(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Varun H K, Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Richard Chang)
