Dec 11 (Reuters) – European shares were muted on Thursday, as declines in technology stocks following a weak forecast from U.S. cloud firm Oracle outweighed relief over the Federal Reserve’s comments that were less hawkish than expected.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.3% at 576.78 by 0809 GMT. Major regional bourses were also lower, with ones in London and France down 0.1% each.
Technology stocks dipped 0.9%, with Germany’s SAP falling 2.5%, after U.S. Peer Oracle forecast sales and profit that missed analysts’ estimates on Wednesday and raised its spending estimates.
Germany’s DAX was weighed down by SAP, as Oracle’s results revived concerns over tech valuations and returns from hefty investments in artificial intelligence.
It overshadowed relief from the Fed’s meeting, where the central bank cautioned against further interest rate cuts in the near term until there is more clarity on the labour market, in comments that investors viewed as less hawkish than expected.
Among others, Delivery Hero fell 5% after Citigroup downgraded the stock to “sell” from “neutral” after a near 14% surge on Wednesday.
London’s Drax gained 2.2% after it forecast annual profit at the top end of market estimates, while RS group topped the STOXX 600 after a rating upgrade from J.P.Morgan, up 3%.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)
