European shares give up early gains as technology and healthcare decline

On Tuesday European shares lost early gains, with growthlinked technology and healthcare stocks leading declines, as signs of rising inflation stoked fears of a sooner-than-expected tightening in global monetary policies.

The pan-European STOXX 600 dropped by 0.1% by 0748 GMT, with the technology and healthcare indexes dropping by more than 0.5%.

The stocks had led Europe’s recovery from a coronavirus-induced crash last year, but investors have this year traded them for economically sensitive sectors including banks, industrials and miners, with signs that the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon begin raising interest rates.

Focus this week will be on an array of Fed speakers, beginning with Chair Jerome Powell, who is due to speak before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday at 1800 GMT.

After registering its worst week in four months on Friday, the pan-European STOXX 600 took a breather on Monday following comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde that the euro zone and the United States were “in a different situation” regarding inflation. Still, investors this week will look at a series of macroeconomic data from across the euro zone, beginning with a flash reading of the bloc’s consumer confidence data for June at 1400 GMT. Europe’s volatility index was down at 19.17 after hitting a one-month high of 22.99 on Monday.

Oil and gas, real estate and travel-related stocks were among the biggest gainers in morning trading.

Axa rose 0.2% after the French insurer said it would sell its insurance businesses in Malaysia to Italian rival Generali for about 140 million euros. Generali’s shares were stable. Italian challenger bank Illimity rose 0.5% as it said it expected to nearly double its net income in the next two years following a strategic partnership with ION, a privately-owned financial data and technology group.

French healthcare group Sanofi lost 1.0% even as it said the company and its U.S. partner Translate Bio had started a Phase I clinical trial evaluating an mRNAbased investigational vaccine against seasonal influenza.

This article was compiled by BOV Asset Management Limited, a member of the BOV Group. BOV Asset Management,TG Complex, Suite 2, Level 3, Brewery Str., Mriehel BKR 3000. Email: infoassetmanagement@bov.com Internet address: www.bovassetmanagement.com. BOV Asset Management is licensed by the MFSA.