European shares fall as Middle East jitters curb risk-taking
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Updated at 1600 GMT
STOXX 600 down 0.9%
Germany's SAP falls on report U.S. prosecutors broadening probe
Nestle down after Citi downgrade
Energy stocks rise amid elevated crude oil prices
Euro Zone business activity down to 49.6 in Sept
By Pranav Kashyap, Shashwat Chauhan
Oct 3 (Reuters) -European shares declined onThursday, as investors remained wary of risk-taking amid elevated geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with most sectors logging declines except energy giants.
The benchmark pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX closed 0.9% lower, touching its lowest level in more than a week.
Most regional bourse slipped, with Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI falling more than 1% each.
The automobile sector .SXAP declined 2.1% with Milan-listed shares of Stellantis STLAM.MI down 4%. CEO Carlos Tavares left the door open forpossible cuts to its dividend and share buybacks next year.
Barclays also downgraded the Franco-Italian group to "equal-weight".
Construction and materials .SXOP shed 2%, bogged down by a 4.8% decline in French firm Bouygues BOUY.PA after lowering its 2026 sales and profit expectations.
Basic resources .SXPP eased 1.7%, tracking declining copper prices in jitters about the conflict in the Middle East. MET/L
Israel, which has been fighting Hamas in Gaza for almost a year, sent its troops into southern Lebanon after two weeks of intense airstrikes, escalating tensions in a conflict that has drawn in Iran and risks drawing in the United States.
Elevated crude prices helped European energy stocks .SXEP rise 0.3%, a rare bright spot amidst Thursday's losses.
On the data front, Euro zone business activity slipped back into contraction last month although the downturn was not as steep as initially thought, according to a survey that also showed inflationary pressures had eased.
"Even with the relatively large upward revision the PMI suggests that private sector activity growth in the EZ lost pace at the end of Q3, as the Olympics boost to French services disappeared," Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics noted.
Among headlining stocks, Germany'sSAP SAPG.DE declined 1.5% following a media report that U.S. prosecutors arebroadening a probe into potential price-fixing in government contracts by the software developer and tech reseller Carahsoft.
Nestle NESN.S lost 1.3% after Citigroup cut its rating on the world's biggest packaged food company to "neutral" from "buy".
French gaming group FDJ FDJ.PA dipped 6.4% on media reports the French government would implement a tax hike on online gaming and betting from 2025, in order to increase the Social Security budget.
Stora Enso STERV.HE gained 3.6% after the Finnish forestry group said it will put 12% of its forest assets in Sweden up for sale in a move to reduce debt and strengthen its balance sheet.
Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Eileen Soreng and Chris Reese
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