Europe close: Stocks end mixed as gold and euro gain

European shares ended on a mixed note even after a further fall in eurozone producer prices and as investors shrugged off surprise output cuts by OPEC and other countries.

"The FTSE 100 has fallen back from the highs seen yesterday, joining in a more cautious tone on Wall Street," said IG chief market analyst.

"But for the moment it looks like stocks have come too far, too fast to push much higher in the near-term."

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index drifted lower by 0.08% to 457.34, alongside a 0.56% drop on the FTSE Mib to 27,026.56, although the German Dax was up by 0.14% to 15,603.47.

Trading volumes were likely lower than usual heading into Easter.

Front-dated Brent was down 0.68% to $84.25 a barrel on the ICE as analysts at Morgan Stanley marked down their price forecasts for 2023 and 2024, citing higher output in Nigeria and an acceleration in Iranian exports.

Gold futures jumped 1.96% to $2,039.50/oz. and euro/dollar by 0.40% to 1.0949 after the US Department of Labor reported a larger-than- expected drop in job openings during February.

For his part, JP Morgan boss, Jamie Dimon, said in his annual letter to shareholders that the recent banking crisis was nothing like 2008, but neither was it clear when it might end.

Back in Europe, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, said that industrial prices in the Eurozone fell by 0.5% in February when compared to the prior month, when they fell by 2.8%, and by 0.6% in the wider bloc. Analysts had been looking for a 0.3% drop.

Year-on-year, industrial producer prices jumped 13.2% and 14.5% in the eurozone and EU, respectively.

In equity news, L'Oreal shares edged ahead after the cosmetics group struck a deal with Brazil's Natura & Co to buy Aesop, its Australian luxury brand, at an enterprise value of $2.53bn.

Bayer was up after a Delaware judge dismissed Merck's lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer responsible for more talc-related liabilities stemming from its purchase of Merck's consumer care business in 2014.

Energy stocks fell after strong gains on Monday, with Equinor, GALP and Aker BP all down.