European stocks settled on Friday, capping off a week of sluggish trading as investors demonstrated a sense of caution ahead of impending decisions from major central banks.
The main index was dragged down by Croda International Plc’s shares, which dropped following lukewarm earnings expectations.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index stabilised at 460.57 points by 07.18 Greenwich Mean Time, seemingly set to end the week with negligible gains.
Investors will be closely watching the upcoming meetings of the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) and the European Central Bank for monetary policy updates in the coming days.
Shares of global company Croda plummeted by 11%, leading losses in the STOXX 600 index after the British chemical company projected its annual pre-tax profits to fall short of expectations.
Furthermore, the broader European chemical sector index saw a decline of 1.3%, spearheading the sectoral losses.
