European shares fall as Nvidia boost fails to offset sectoral weakness

European shares edged lower on Thursday as a Nvidia-fuelled rally in technology stocks was not enough to offset broader market weakness. The pan-European STOXX 600 was down ‌0.4% at 653.77 points, as of 0843 GMT. Nvidia forecast a 70% jump in revenue next fiscal year, underscoring unabated demand for AI computing. Technology stocks led sectoral gains, rising 1.5%, with shares of AT&S, Soitec and Computacenter advancing between 4.7% and 6.9%.

On the flip side, personal and ‌household goods, chemicals and food and beverages fell between 1% and 1.4%, limiting broader gains. "Europe has limited exposure to technology stocks, ‌and with today's rally in U.S. markets being driven largely by the tech sector, European indexes are likely to underperform their technology-heavy U.S. counterparts," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote. Ozkardeskaya added that while blockbuster earnings from technology companies boosted demand for tech stocks, gains were tempered by concerns over persistent inflation and the prospect of ⁠further ​monetary tightening by major central banks. ⁠As a result, optimism surrounding AI-driven growth remained largely confined to the technology sector, limiting broader market gains. In Germany, consumer sentiment is set to increase going into September, ⁠with gains in economic and income expectations helping to counter households' persistent caution on spending, a survey showed. Germany's DAX was up 0.2%. Meanwhile, Qatar's prime ​minister will visit Tehran on Thursday in a bid to relaunch diplomacy after the U.S. and Iran traded recriminations over ⁠Washington's promise to increase economic pressure on Tehran by targeting its trade partners for sanctions.

Oil prices fell more than $1, extending a streak of losses, on expectations that talks between ⁠Iran ​and Qatar might open the Strait of Hormuz and reduce supply disruptions from the war in the Middle East. In contrast, gold rose 0.08% after a pullback on Wednesday, while bitcoin and ether gained 1.9% and 2.6%, respectively, with all three assets benefiting from renewed ⁠interest in "dollar debasement trades" after the U.S. Treasury Department intervened in bond markets last week. Attention is now shifting to Warsh's speech ⁠at Jackson Hole on Friday after ⁠hotter-than-expected inflation data prompted investors to modestly increase bets on a rate hike next month. Among individual stocks, French spirits maker Pernod Ricard slipped 6.6% after reporting FY26 sales that slightly missed expectations, hurt ‌by weakness in its ‌U.S. and China markets.