(Bloomberg) -- European equities retreated for a fourth day as a drop in bank and chemical stocks outweighed a rally in technology companies.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell dropped 0.3 percent at the close after erasing an earlier rise of 0.6 percent. Lenders were the second-biggest drag, while a slide in Bayer AG pulled chemical shares lower. Hawkish comments from central bankers rattled investors this week and sparked a selloff in both equity and bond markets. Still, the Stoxx 600 is up 5 percent for the first half of the year.
- Bayer fell 4.2 percent after saying it plans to cut its sales and profit forecasts for this year because of unexpectedly high stockpiling in Brazil of its crop-protection products.
- Stoxx 600 are down 2.1 percent this week, the biggest five-month retreat since November.
- Despite the recent retreat, European equity funds have seen net investment inflows of $2.4 billion in the week to June 28, marking a 14th straight week of inflows for the region, according to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch strategists, citing EPFR Global data.
- Adidas AG gained 2.1 percent after U.S. rival Nike Inc. delivered a rosy annual forecast.
--With assistance from Elena Popina
To contact the reporter on this story: Blaise Robinson in Paris at brobinson58@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Brian Lysaght, Richard Richtmyer
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