European stocks close in mixed field awaiting sanctions

European shares rose on Tuesday as investors awaited further sanctions on Moscow, while France’s blue-chip index tumbled after opinion polls about this month’s presidential election turned fiercer.

French markets have woken up to the risk of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen winning this month’s election against Emmanuel Macron after Le Pen won 48.5% of voting intentions in a poll published on Monday – the highest percentage. that she has already achieved.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed up 0.19% at 463.07 points and gave back some earlier gains, while France’s benchmark CAC 40 index had its worst day in nearly a month.

“At best, (Le Pen) would undermine and frustrate European policymaking and, at worst, attempt to dismantle the structures of the European Union from within… If polls continue in her favor, investors will likely be much more concerned ,” said Jessica Hinds, senior economist for Europe at Capital Economics.

In response to the killing of civilians in a Ukrainian city, the EU has proposed sweeping new sanctions against Moscow, which include a ban on coal imports, which, if passed, would prevent Russian imports worth €9 billion and exports to Russia in the future. value of 10 billion euros.

• In London, the Financial Times index advanced 0.72%, to 7,613.72 points;
• In Frankfurt, the DAX index fell 0.65% to 14,424.36 points;
• In Paris, the CAC-40 index lost 1.28%, to 6,645.51 points;
• In Milan, the Ftse/Mib index had a devaluation of 0.86%, to 24,960.38 points;
• In Madrid, the Ibex-35 index registered an increase of 1.20%, to 8,623.30 points;
• In Lisbon, the PSI20 index rose by 1.67%, to 6,100.74 points.