Deutsche Lufthansa leads airline shares lower

European stocks were little changed as Deutsche Lufthansa led airlines lower after a report that an Airbus A320 aircraft crashed in France.

Lufthansa fell 4.4 per cent, Air France-KLM lost 1.4 per cent and Airbus retreated 2.1 per cent.

The moves helped trim the Stoxx Europe 600 Index’s advance, sending the gauge up less than 0.1 per cent to 401.4 at 11:23am in London.

Earlier, the Stoxx 600 climbed as much as 0.4 per cent, reversing a drop of 0.5 per cent, as data showed euro-area business activity expanded faster than forecast.

For Germany, a composite index the manufacturing and services industries advanced to 55.3 in March from 53.8 in February, marking a 23rd straight month of growth.

European shares have rallied 17 per cent this year, with the Stoxx 600 closing at its highest level since 2000 at the end of last week as the European Central Bank started a quantitative- easing program and speculation increased that the Federal Reserve won’t rush to raise rates.

The ASE Index added 2.2 per cent after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras his country belongs in Europe and that she wants its economy to succeed.

Billionaire investor George Soros said the chances of Greece leaving the euro area are now 50-50.

Denmark’s OMX Copenhagen 20 CAP Index climbed 0.6 per cent, led by a 1.6 per cent advance in Novo Nordisk after one of its obesity treatments received European marketing authorization.

Danske Bank gained 1 per cent after Citigroup recommended buying the stock. Among other companies moving on corporate news, Hennes and Mauritz lost 2.5 percent as it said the strong dollar will add to purchasing costs this year.

The greenback has increased 27 per cent against the euro and 33 per cent against the retailer’s reporting currency, the Swedish krona, in the past 12 months. Wolseley fell 3.4 per cent after reporting that first- half pretax profit dropped from a year earlier.

Bloomberg