By Anastasiia Kozlova
Dec 1 (Reuters) – European shares slipped on Monday, with defence stocks and planemaker Airbus weighing down industrials, as a wave of risk-averse sentiment swept markets after gains in November.
The pan-European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2% to 575.33 points by 0931 GMT, after logging its fifth consecutive month of gains in November.
Major regional bourses were mixed, with French stocks France down 0.2% and Spanish one up 0.1%.
The industrial sector was the biggest drag on the STOXX 600, down 1.1%.
Airbus shares fell 3.3%. The planemaker recalled and ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 jets – more than half the worldwide fleet due to a software issue on Friday, but fleets were returning towards normal operations on Monday.
The move could wipe out about 4.70 billion euros in the company’s market cap, if declines hold.
Thales, that manufactured the computers, shed 2%.
Defence stocks also plunged, with Hensoldt and Rheinmetall down over 3.5% each while Renk fell 5.6% to bottom the STOXX 600. The broader defence index lost 2.5%. The stocks pulled down Germany’s DAX by 0.7%.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials held “productive” talks on Sunday on a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressing cautious optimism despite hurdles to ending the three-year war.
“It’s maybe a little bit less about prospects for Russia-Ukraine, which remain very uncertain and maybe a little bit more about investors looking at sectors that have done well for the year and perhaps taking some profits,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.
Investors looked to book some profits on Monday in the absence of fresh catalysts, but will be focused on upcoming economic releases and holiday spending trends after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The benchmark index ended last month with gains, rebounding from early-month losses driven by renewed AI bubble fears as sentiment improved on expectations of a December U.S. interest rate cut and progress on a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.
On the flip side, the basic resources sector rose 0.9%, tracking higher gold and silver prices.
Among other stocks, London’s Impax Asset Management fell 6.2% after its annual results.
Vivendi shares shed 2.6% after Kepler Cheuvreux downgraded the stock to “hold”. A French court on Friday overturned a ruling that the billionaire Bollore family exercised de facto control over the company.
Elsewhere, focus will remain on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech for any clues on the U.S. central bank’s approach to monetary policy at its December meeting.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Purvi Agarwal; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee )
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