Europe close: Stocks slip after choppy session as gold hits new highs
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Tuesday 07 Oct 2025
(Sharecast News) - European markets finished a choppy session marginally lower, with trading rangebound as stocks tread water near record highs and flows to safety pushing gold prices to a new peak.
The Stoxx 600, which hit a record closing high of 570.45 on Friday, followed by a flat session on Monday, finished Tuesday 0.15% lower at 569.39 - having swung between gains and losses for most of the day - with flat performances in London, Frankfurt and Paris outweighed by moderate declines in Milan, Madrid and Zurich.
After a brief stint in positive territory, French stocks finished unchanged following a 1.3% fall on Monday after France's newly appointed prime minister Sebastien Lecornu abruptly resigned just hours after he had named cabinet.
Lecornu is now reportedly starting last-ditch talks with various parties to attempt to bring an end to the political turmoil engulfing the country, as president Emmanuel Macron faces mounting pressure to hold a snap parliamentary election.
Meanwhile, gold futures gained 0.8% on Comex to touch $4,008.80 an ounce - a new record high - as risk appetite was scaled back.
""The gold price rally is accelerating and is on track for its strongest annual performance since 1979 as investors seek safety amid political turmoil in France, the ongoing US government shut down, and expectations of two more Fed cuts by year-end," said Axel Rudolph, senior technical analyst at IG.
In economic data, German factory orders unexpectedly fell for the fourth straight month in August, dropping 0.8% after a revised 2.7% decrease in July. The consensus forecast was for an increase of 1.4%
Meanwhile, the Halifax UK house price index fell 0.3% in September following a 0.2% uplift in August, marking its first decline since May. Most analysts had been expecting another 0.2% rise.
Market movers
London-listed discount retailer B&M was a heavy faller, dropping 8% after guiding to a big fall in annual profits this year. The company said it was launching a turnaround plan after underlying sales in its main UK operation barely grew in the first half.
Pharma stocks were providing a drag on markets, with Bayer, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and GSK trading lower after recent gains. British outfit AstraZeneca, however, was flat after reporting positive results from a phase III clinical trial of its Baxdrostat treatment.
Denmark's Orsted was lower after saying it had raised nearly £7bn in a heavily discounted rights issue, as it looks to shore up its finances amid Donald Trump's vocal opposition to wind power.
London's Shell gushed higher after saying it expects "significantly higher" trading in its gas division in the third quarter than in the previous quarter, while tobacco giant Imperial Brands rose after announcing a £1.45bn share buyback.
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