By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets moved broadly
lower at the open on Thursday, after the U.S. and the European
Union each announced a new round of sanctions on Russia, bringing
Ukraine tensions back in focus.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index slid 0.5% to 341.18, after posting
the biggest one-day percentage gain since April on Wednesday.
Among notable movers in the pan-European index, shares of
Sandvik AB gave up 3.3% after the Swedish engineering group
reported a drop in second-quarter profit.
Bucking the negative trend, shares of SAP SE climbed 4% after
the German software company raised its full-year revenue outlook
for cloud applications.
Shares of ITV PLC rallied 5.9% after news that Liberty Global
PLC is buying a 6.4% stake in the U.K. broadcaster for 481 million
pounds ($824.18 million).
On a country level, Russia's MICEX index slumped 1.8% to
1,447.79 after the White House widened sanctions against Russia.
The U.S. is restricting access to the American debt market for some
Russian banks, energy companies and defense firms. Meanwhile, the
EU said it would announce detailed sanctions by the end of
July.
Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.4% to 9,817.27, while France's CAC
40 index lost 0.6% to 4,341.63. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped
0.2% to 6,768.58.
Later Thursday, the final euro-zone inflation data for June will
be released, forecast to confirm the 0.5% flash reading. The report
is due at 10 a.m. London time, 5 a.m. Eastern Time.
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