European Markets Pulled Back On Investor Caution

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session in the red as investors adopted a more cautious attitude. Crude oil prices retreated at the end of the trading week, as an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia on a cut in production begins to look less likely. The weak performance of the Asian markets and the early struggles of the U.S. equity markets also contributed to the negative mood.

Markets may be wrong in pricing in an interest rate hike only in 2019, latest comments from Bank of England policymakers suggest.

The central bank may raise interest rates sooner than markets currently expect, policymaker Martin Weale said in a newspaper interview published Friday.

"I would be surprised if people had to wait as long as markets are currently implying," Weale told the Irish News. "But markets may well turn out to be right."

Weale is the longest serving member on the Monetary Policy Committee and his term ends in July. He gave the interview during a visit to Northern Ireland.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 0.83 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 0.92 percent.

The DAX of Germany dropped 0.80 percent and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.39 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 0.36 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 0.67 percent.

In Frankfurt, Allianz fell 1.25 percent. The insurer reported a 5.8 percent increase in full-year net profit, driven by strong performances in the life and health segments.

Volkswagen decreased 3.56 percent and Daimler surrendered 2.35 percent. BMW also finished with a loss of 2.20 percent.

Deutsche Bank dropped 2.22 percent and Commerzbank weakened by 2.10 percent.

E.ON declined 5.19 percent and peer RWE finished down by 3.03 percent.

In Paris, Kering dipped 0.56 percent. The luxury goods group reported 16 percent growth in fourth-quarter revenue, beating analyst estimates.

Shares of Essilor International dropped 2.19 percent. The eye-care firm forecast full-year revenue growth of 8 percent at constant exchange rates after reporting lower profit for 2015.

Gameloft soared 16.79 percent after media conglomerate Vivendi launched a hostile takeover bid for the video-game company.

Technip sank 3.36 percent, but Total rose 0.48 percent.

In London, Standard Life lost 0.50 percent. The insurer and asset manager hiked dividend after delivering better-than-expected pre-tax operating profit for 2015.

Randgold Resources climbed 2.50 percent and Fresnillo gained 3.59 percent.

Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 2.34 percent and Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.02 percent. Standard Chartered weakened by 1.71 percent and Barclays lost 0.03 percent.

Royal Dutch Shell decreased 1.64 percent and BP surrendered 0.62 percent. Tullow Oil also sank 5.77 percent.

Insurer Aegon fell 4.21 percent in Amsterdam after its fourth-quarter earnings missed estimates.

Germany's producer prices declined at a faster-than-expected pace in January, figures from Destatis showed Friday. The producer price index slid 2.4 percent year-over-year in January, exceeding economists' expectations for a 2.0 percent drop.

UK retail sales grew more-than-expected in January, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed Friday. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales increased 2.3 percent from December and 5 percent year-on-year. Economists had expected growth of 0.8 percent and 3.6 percent.

The surplus in the public sector net borrowing excluding banks came in below economists' expectations in January, figures from the ONS showed Friday. The PSNB ex-banks revealed a surplus of GBP 11.2 billion versus GBP 10.2 billion a year ago. Economists had forecast GBP 12.3 billion surplus.

British households perceived that the value of their home increased in February, with the corresponding index rising to the highest level in sixteen months, survey figures from Markit Economics and Knight Frank showed Friday.

The Knight Frank/Markit House Price Sentiment Index, or HPSI, climbed to 59.6 in February from 58.7 in the previous month.

While the Labor Department released a report on Friday showing that U.S. consumer prices came in flat in the month of January, the report also showed a bigger than expected increase in core prices. The report said the consumer price index was unchanged in January after edging down by 0.1 percent in December. Economists had expected prices to dip by another 0.1 percent.