Europe close: Shares lower as global IT chaos, UK retail sales weigh

European stocks closed lower on Friday as a major technical outage involving Microsoft hit businesses around the world, while weaker-than-expected UK retail sales also hit sentiment.

The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index finished the week 0.78% lower to 510.02, with all major bourses in the red.

In the UK, wages grew at their slowest pace in nearly two years in the three months to May, according to figures released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics.

Annual pay excluding bonuses was up 5.7%, down from 6% growth in the previous three-month period. This was in line with economists' expectations and marked the slowest pace of growth since September 2022.

Including bonuses, total earnings rose 5.7%, down from 5.9% and also as expected.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was steady at 4.4% in May, in line with expectations.

The data also showed that job vacancies fell from 905,000 in the three months to May to 889,000 in the three months to June, leaving them 32% below the peak in May 2022.

There was also data showing UK retail sales fell by more than expected in June, partially reversing May’s jump. Retail sales volumes fell 1.2% last month, compared to a 2.9% rise in May - analysts had pencilled in a far smaller decline, of around 0.4%.

Traders were also digesting the European Central Bank's decision on Thursday to hold interest rates steady for now, after a cut last month. ECB officials also said they expected headline inflation to remain above their target rate until next year.

Fears about a deepening trade war between the US and China was also hitting sentiment.

"A global IT outage led to risk off sentiment with European stocks ending the week in negative territory," said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG.

"Worse-than-expected UK retail sales and a global Microsoft Windows outage, allegedly caused by an update from CrowdStrike, led to another negative session in global stock markets."

"The FTSE 100 saw a second straight day of losses and the German DAX 40 index its fifth, both ending the week in the red as the European central bank kept rates on hold. Next week US earnings, especially in the recently battered tech sector, will be watched closely ahead of Friday's Fed preferred PCE inflation gauge."

In equity news, shares in Sartorius Stedim tanked as the biotech company lowered sales and earnings forecasts for the full year.

Ubisoft was also sharply lower after the company said it was delaying release of mobile versions of the Rainbow Six and The Division franchises.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com