European stocks close lower as protests weigh on sentiment

​​​​​​​By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - European stocks closed lower on Tuesday as escalating protests in France and unrest spreading to other European countries weighed on market sentiment.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.92% to 638.64 points.

France's CAC 40 declined 0.38% to 7,838.49, while Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.29% to 10,733.

Germany's DAX slipped 0.06% to 25,304.42, and Italy's FTSE MIB edged down 0.03% to 49,071.37.

The euro rose 0.21% against the dollar to trade at $1.1234 at 1800GMT.

Investors monitored developments in France, where Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu instructed prefects on Monday to impose partial curfews in certain areas following violence and looting during demonstrations.

The government also said it would increase police deployment for protests planned by the yellow vest movement on Oct. 24.

On the economic front, German institutional investors' and analysts' expectations for the economy deteriorated more than markets had forecast in October as high energy prices weighed on sentiment. The decline was the first in nine months.

In Britain, the unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in the June-August period, down 0.1 percentage point from the preceding quarter and a year earlier.

Annual growth in regular earnings, excluding bonuses, remained unchanged at 3.7%. Growth in total earnings, including bonuses, slowed 0.2 percentage points from the previous three-month period to 3.7%.

Mücahithan Avcıoğlu