EUROPE MARKETS: European Stocks Pull Lower Despite Brighter German Sentiment Data

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks slipped Wednesday, giving back a portion of gains in the previous session that pulled the market's benchmark closer to a new record high.

The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.2% at 401.66, as technology, energy and utility shares paced sector decliners.

The pan-European index remained in the red after a better-than-expected report on German business sentiment. The Ifo Institute's business-climate indicator (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ifo-german-business-confidence-rises-again-2015-03-25) was at 107.9 in March, above the 107.3 expected in Wall Street Journal survey of economists. The March reading was the highest since July 2014.

"Germany's strength is good news for the rest of the eurozone, although the firming recovery in countries like Spain and even Italy means they may be less dependent on German demand than during the depths of the crisis in 2011/12," said Christian Schulz, senior economist at Berenberg, wrote in a report.

The euro (EURUSD) was little changed after the Ifo report, trading at $1.0958 against the dollar. Late Tuesday, the shared currency bought $1.0926.

"While EUR/USD has remained resilient this week, it's still just flirting with a downtrend resistance line that has been in place since December last year. Until we see a close above $1.1000, I wouldn't be jumping into longs just yet as the medium-term trend is still lower," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG, in a note Wednesday.

But Germany's DAX 30 eventually turned lower after the Ifo report, losing 0.2% at 11,981.05. There, shares of Deutsche Lufthansa SA fell 0.8%, extending losses in the wake of Tuesday's deadly Germanwings plane crash (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/france-launches-difficult-search-and-recovery-for-germanwings-flight-9525-2015-03-25) in the French Alps.

France's CAC 40 gave up 0.5% at 5,061.25. Among the worst performers on both the CAC and the Stoxx 600 was Accor SA . Its shares dropped 3.2% after Eurazeo SA and Colony Capital said they plan to sell a 9.65% stake in the French company behind the Sofitel and Novotel hotel brands.

The U.K.'s FTSE 100 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-edges-up-but-barclays-falls-after-downgrade-2015-03-25) was up 0.1% at 7,027.59, but shares of Barclays PLC were off 1.4% following a ratings downgrade at Investec to hold from buy.

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