European markets hovered around the flat line on Tuesday in subdued trading ahead of the New Year holidays.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 The index opened slightly lower, down 0.07%, before rising slightly but still in flat territory.
London’s FTSE 100 Index and France CAC 40 Both slipped at the open before recovering and trading around the zero line. of Spain CAPRICORN traded up 0.2%, while the Dutch AEX index rose slightly by 0.07%. European markets open today are scheduled for half a day of trading.
Markets in Germany, Switzerland and Italy are closed today and all European markets will remain closed on New Year’s Day before reopening on January 2nd.
The best performing stock on the market Stoxx 600 The index was Finnish oil refiner Neste, up 2.9%, closely followed by Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, up 2.3%. The worst performer in the index was Portuguese energy company Galp Energia, down 4.7%.
European markets closed lower on Monday after the last full trading session of the year, but regional stocks are expected to end the year with moderate gains; The FTSE 100 is up 4.75% year-to-date, while Germany’s DAX outperformed with an increase of almost 19%. However, France’s CAC 40 index, plagued by ongoing political turmoil, has fallen over 3% since the start of the year.
The Stoxx 600 is up about 5.5% so far this year, with the best-performing sectors being banks (up 25%), telecommunications (up 15.8%) and financial services stocks (up nearly 15%).
Food and beverages, autos and materials were the worst-performing sectors, each down around 12% over 2024.
To put the performance of the Stoxx 600 in perspective, consider the US S&P 500 index, which has gained around 24% this year.
Traders will again be eyeing Boeing’s New York-listed shares after one of its planes was involved in a fatal crash in South Korea on Sunday.
Boeing shares lost about 2.2% on Monday. South Korean authorities will conduct an investigation into the crash, which killed 179 people, to determine the exact cause.
The Boeing 737-800, the model involved in the crash, is one of the most widely used aircraft in the world and has a strong safety record.
After another boom year for Wall Street, US stock futures were slightly lower ahead of the final trading session of 2024. Asia-Pacific markets fell overnight as Chinese manufacturing growth fell short of expectations. The CSI 300, the country’s benchmark, was still on track to close the year with a gain, ending three years of losses.
—CNBC’s Chloe Taylor contributed to this market report.