European Stocks Close Notably Lower On Growth Concerns, Virus Jitters

European stocks ended notably lower on Friday amid rising worries about a surge in coronavirus cases across Europe and several other parts of the world, and growing uncertainty about the pace of economic recovery.

Disappointment over the three central banks, the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and the Bank of Japan, not coming out with any additional stimulus measures, and concerns about a very likely no-deal Brexit also weighed on stocks. A sell-off in the U.S. market hurt as well.

Travel-related stocks were the worst hit with surging coroavirus cases resulting in fresh lockdown measures in some places. Leading scientists are reportedly advising the U.K. government to announce a two-week national lockdown in October to try to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases.

According to reports, coronavirus cases have increased sharply across the world and the total has surged past 30 million. The continuous surge in Covid-19 cases across Europe should serve as "a wake-up call", Dr. Hans Kluge, regional director of The World Health Organization in Europe, said on Thursday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slid 0.66%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 0.71%, Germany's DAX shed 0.7% and France's CAC 40 went down by 1.22%. Switzerland's SMI bucked the trend and edged up 0.19%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain closed with sharp to moderate losses.

Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Turkey ended flat.

In the UK market, IAG plunged 13.7%, EasyJet declined more than 9% and TUI ended lower by about 4.6%.

Carnival ended more than 7% down. Polymental International, Johnson Matthey, Intercontinental, Barrat Developments, British Land Company, Rolls-Royce Holdings and WPP lost 4 to 5%. Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and Barclays also ended sharply lower.

Among the gainers in the FTSE 100 index, Ocado Group and Fresnillo both ended higher by over 3%. Severn Trent, Evraz, 3i Group, Tesco and Experian advanced 2 to 2.5%.

In the German market, Lufthansa slid about 4.6%. Wirecard, Volkswagen, HeidelbergCement, Continental and Thyssenkrupp lost 2 to 4%. Daimler, an BME also closed notably lower, while Merck moved up 2.5% and Bayer gained about 1%.

Covestro surged nearly 7 percent after Bloomberg reported that buyout firm Apollo Global Management Inc. is exploring a takeover of the specialty chemicals company. However, the stock pared gains subsequently after the company denied takeover talks.

In France, Unibail Rodamco tumbled more than 10%, Sodexo, Publicis Groupe and Renault declined 4 to 4.5%, while Airbus, Peugeot, Credit Agricole, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Safran lost 2 to 3.5%.

Among the gainers, Technip surged up nearly 3%. WorldLine and Dassault Systemes also ended notably higher.

Swiss drug maker Roche Group rose sharply after the company announced the launch of its Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 S antibody test for markets accepting the CE Mark.

In economic news, data from the Office for National Statistics showed that U.K. retail sales grew for the fourth straight month in August but the pace of expansion slowed markedly. Retail sales volume increased 0.8% month-on-month in August, but slower than July's 3.7% increase, the data said.

Germany's producer prices declined 1.2% year-on-year in August, following a 1.7% fall in July, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. Economists had expected a 1.4% decrease. The pace of decline was the weakest since March, when prices fell 0.8%.

The euro area current account surplus decreased to a seasonally adjusted EUR 17 billion in July from EUR 21 billion in June. In July last year, the surplus was EUR 24 billion.