Europe close: Stocks slip, but higher for the week

(Sharecast News) - European stocks finished the day on a down note following data that showed the eurozone's nascent economic recovery unexpectedly slowed in June, weighed down by weakness in the manufacturing sector. Nonetheless, for the week as a whole the main regional benchmarks had moved higher.

For his part and commenting on the session's price action, Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG, noted how the US S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indices were trading around "technical psychological levels such as 5,500 and 20,000.

"These round numbers frequently lead to at least minor corrective moves," he added.

"French and German flash PMIs dragged European indices down. Nonetheless, both the UK blue chip index and European indices managed to see their first weekly gain after four-to-five consecutive weeks of losses."

The Stoxx 600 index was down 0.73% to 515.11, alongside a 1.15% decline for Spain's Ibex 35 to 11,032.30.

France's Cac-40 meanwhile slipped 0.56% to 7,628.57.

Crude oil, the euro and gold were all lower, especially the latter.

In economic news, the HCOB 'flash' Eurozone PMI Output Index slipped from a reading of 52.2 for May to 50.8 in June.

Activity in both manufacturing and services activity was softer overall, the surveys showed, especially the former.

On this side of the Channel, British retail sales volumes rose 2.9% in May, a big gain from the 1.8% fall in April when heavy rain affected shopping footfall.

Zealand Pharma roared ahead by 19% as an early-stage study showed the Danish company's weight-loss drug helped reduce weight by an average 8.6% after 16 weekly doses.

Shares in British soft drinks maker Britvic soared 8% as the company rejected a revised, unsolicited, possible cash offer from Carlsberg Group, saying it "significantly undervalued" the group and its prospects. Carlsberg shares were down on the news.