Miners, weak earnings drag European stocks lower

European stocks retreated from six-week highs on Thursday, with miners leading the declines on renewed concerns about China's property sector, while mixed quarterly updates from companies dampened risk appetite.

The Europe-wide STOXX 600 index fell 0.2% due to a dour mood in global markets following the collapse of a $2.6 billion asset sale at indebted developer China Evergrande Group. European miners, which have a large exposure to China, shed 2.5%. UK-listed shares of Anglo American fell 3.7% even though it reported a 2% rise in overall production in the third quarter.

Worries about China's plan to bring down coal prices hit high-flying metal prices on Wednesday. "China's macrocycle has troughed, but growth remains subdued," said Andreas Bruckner, Bank of America's European equity strategist, who earlier this month set a year-end target of 420 for the STOXX 600, implying a fall of about 10% from current levels.

"The downside risks relative to our projections are increasing, given the potential additional drag from supply-chain disruptions, energy shortages in Europe and China, the intensifying debt crisis in China's property sector, and the risk of a central bank policy mistake." Swiss engineering and tech group ABB tumbled nearly 6% after it lowered its full-year sales forecast and warned of shortages of components, while Sweden's AB Volvo fell about 0.8% after it said chip shortages hampered the production of its trucks.

There was no relief for banking stocks either. The sector fell 0.9% even though UK's Barclays and Finland's Nordea reported upbeat quarterly results. Defensive sectors lent support to European bourses as the personal and household goods index rose 0.7% on the back of Unilever's third-quarter earnings beat.

Luxury stocks were also higher after Birkin bag maker Hermes rose 0.8% on strong quarterly sales. Cartier-owner Richemont advanced 0.4% after HSBC raised the brand to "buy" from "hold", citing its leadership and momentum in the jewelry industry.

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