European stocks were flat on Wednesday as a 30 percent slump
for delivery company Deliveroo in its London debut took the shine off the
fourth straight quarterly rise for the benchmark STOXX 600.
اضافة اعلان
The pan-European STOXX 600 index inched down 0.1 percent to
430.4 — trading below its pre-pandemic peak of 433.9. The benchmark was on
course to end March with a 6.4 percent rise and the first quarter with an 8
percent gain.
The German DAX slipped 0.1 percent after breaching the
15,000-mark for the first time on Tuesday, while the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.4
percent.
Shares in Deliveroo opened well below the initial public
offering price, falling as low as 271 pence. The company had priced its IPO at
390 pence per share, giving it a valuation of $10.5 billion, less than
initially expected.
Continental peers Just Eat Takeaway and Delivery Hero fell
2.0 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
"The biggest concern is regulation around worker
rights. The flexible employee model of Deliveroo's riders is a huge pillar of
the group's plans for success," Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at
Hargreaves Lansdown, said in a note.
H&M fell 2.8 percent after the Swedish retailer reported
a quarterly loss and said it would not propose a dividend at its annual general
meeting.
Economically sensitive sectors such as autos, banks, travel,
and leisure have been the top performers in Europe this quarter.
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