LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) – Mixed corporate earnings and
economic data left European shares little changed on Thursday,
pausing after a two-session rally.
Worse-than-expected results by Germany’s biggest lender,
Deutsche Bank, weighed on euro zone banks,
which were also hit by data showing euro zone economic sentiment
fell more than expected in April.
They weighed on the Euro STOXX 50 index, which
closed 0.1 percent lower at 2,321.48, although losses were
partly stemmed by a rally among automotive stocks after
strong results from Volkswagen.
“This decline is part of a larger corrective phase which
could last for a couple of months into June-July,” Roelof Van
Den Akker, a senior technical analyst at ING said.
“But in this corrective phase we would like to see the
development of a lower high and this could take place around the
index’s long-term moving average lines” at 2,445 and 2,464.
The broader, pan-European FTSEurofirst 300
provisionally closed flat at 1,042.92 points after paring losses
in the afternoon, when data showed contracts to buy previously
owned U.S. homes rose to a near two-year high in March, fuelling
hopes of a pickup in the battered U.S. housing sector.
