Cautious trade for European shares ahead of Fed

Reuters

Published Mar 21, 2018 04:48AM ET

Cautious trade for European shares ahead of Fed

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged lower in early dealing on Wednesday, with investors cautiously awaiting the conclusion of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting for signals on the pace of expected interest rate rises.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.1 percent by 0827 GMT, as more cyclical sectors such as financials, materials and industrials retreated.

European tech was among the top sectoral gainers, up 0.3 percent, led be semiconductor makers.

The sector has, for now, seen little fallout from the reports of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) data misuse that have sent the U.S. social media giant's shares down 10 percent over the past two sessions

French luxury goods maker Hermes jumped 2 percent after its profit margin reached a record in 2017 and the company increased its dividend.

Britain's Kingfisher (LON:KGF) was one of the biggest fallers, down more than 6 percent after beating full-year earnings forecasts but warning that the UK market was "more uncertain".

Ubisoft rose more than 4 percent after Vivendi (PA:VIV) sold its entire stake in the video game maker for 2 billion euros ($2.45 billion). Ubisoft has long opposed the French media group's involvement in the company.