European Markets Mostly Finished Higher Monday

(RTTNews) - The majority of the European markets ended Monday's session in the green. The markets were up in early trade, after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party won a decisive victory in parliament's upper house. However, investors were also concerned by a potential slowdown in the German economy and the weaker than expected U.S. existing home sales report.

Germany's economic growth is set to slow in the third quarter, following a rebound in the second quarter of the year, Bundesbank said in its monthly bulletin on Monday. The signs of a slowing down of economic growth are stronger, it said.

The assessment that, the German economy expanded strongly in the second quarter, after a weather-related weak start to 2013, has been confirmed by the current indicators, the bank said.

The euro area government debt continued to increase in the first quarter, with highest burden in Greece, data released by Eurostat showed Monday.

The government debt to GDP ratio rose to 92.2 percent at the end of the first quarter, from 90.6 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. Securities other than shares accounted for 77.1 percent of general government debt.

Greece logged the highest debt of 160.5 percent of GDP, followed by Italy with 130.3 percent and Portugal with 127.2 percent. The lowest ratios were seen in Estonia, Bulgaria and Luxembourg.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.33 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.20 percent.

The DAX of Germany dipped by 0.01 percent and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. fell by 0.17 percent. The SMI of Switzerland decreased by 0.01 percent, but the CAC 40 of France climbed by 0.37 percent.

In Frankfurt, SAP declined by 0.86 percent. The business software maker announced a proposal for Co-CEO Jim Hagemann Snabe to transition from his current role to the SAP Supervisory Board, effective ten months from now. At that time, Co-CEO Bill McDermott will take over as sole CEO of SAP.

Deutsche Bank climbed by 1.37 percent, while peer Commerzbank added 0.37 percent.

In Paris, Societe Generale advanced by 1.50 percent. BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole gained 1.67 percent and 0.70 percent respectively.

Lafarge rose by 0.72 percent. Merrill Lynch upgraded the cement giant to its ''Most Preferred List.''

Michelin was added to Top Picks List French Midcaps at UBS. The tire maker gained 1.97 percent.

In London, London Stock Exchange Group finished unchanged. HSBC downgraded LSE to ''Neutral'' from ''Overweight.''

Randgold Resources climbed by 5.57 percent, after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock.

GlaxoSmithKline dropped by 1.22 percent. Chinese officials alleged the company was involved in a bribery scheme in the country, to get healthcare providers to prescribe their drugs.

UBS advanced by 2.50 percent in Zurich. The lender reached an agreement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency regarding US residential mortgage-backed securities between 2004 and 2007.

Swiss private banking group Julius Baer reported higher adjusted net profit for the first half amid higher client activity. The stock surged by 5.68 percent.

U.K. household finance sentiment reached the strongest level since the survey began in February 2009, data from Markit Economics showed Monday. The headline household finance index that measures changes in consumer behavior rose to 41.5 in July from 40.8 in June. Nonetheless, the reading remained below the neutral 50 mark.

U.S. existing home sales fell by more than expected in June, industry data revealed Monday morning. The National Association of Realtors said June existing home sales on a seasonally adjusted basis fell 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 5.08 million from a downwardly revised 5.14 million in May. Analysts were expecting existing home sales to rise to around 5.25 million.