EUROPE MARKETS: Major Banks Drag Europe Stocks Lower

By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets nudged lower in choppy trade on Tuesday, with banks leading the way south, as encouraging German consumer-confidence data failed to lift sentiment.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.1% to 288.96, after snapping a three-day winning streak on Monday.

Shares of William Hill PLC posted one of the biggest gains in the index, up 2.5%, after the online-betting site said operating profit for the 14 weeks to Jan. 1 grew by 20%.

Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHG) gained 2.1% after the Dutch firm said it expects sales to pick up in the second half of the year.

Pointing in the other direction, shares of Sandvik AB lost 0.8%. The Swedish engineering group reported fourth-quarter profit, which was slightly lower than a year ago, and said production rates declined in a reflection of weaker demand.

Shares of Sanofi SA (SNY) lost 1.1% as Barclays cut the French drug maker to equal weight from overweight. The bank also downgraded Germany's Bayer AG to underweight from equal weight, sending its shares 2.1% lower.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), up 0.7%, was lifted to overweight from equal weight.

Elsewhere, European stock markets were broadly negative, keying off a downbeat session on Wall Street Monday, when the S&P 500 index (SPX) broke an eight-session winning streak. U.S. stock futures also pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, as a two-day Federal Reserve meeting was due to get under way.

Closer to home, data from Germany showed consumers became more confident at the start of 2013. The GfK consumer-climate study improved to a 5.8-points forecast for February, up from 5.7 points in January and better than expected by analysts.

The report, however, wasn't enough to cheer investors. The German DAX 30 index lost 0.3% to 7,813.17, with shares of Deutsche Bank AG (DB) off 1.4%.

In France, the CAC 40 index gave up 0.3% to 3,770.86. Shares of Credit Agricole SA slumped 3.4%, Société Générale SA dropped 2.6% and BNP Paribas SA lost 1.3%.

Shares of oil group Total SA (TOT) gained 1%, as oil prices climbed hovered around the flat line.

Oil firms were also on the rise in the U.K., with shares of BP PLC (BP) adding 0.8% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC up 0.3%.

The FTSE 100 index , however, traded 0.1% lower at 6,290.77.

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