European stocks close lower and break three-day streak of gains

European shares fell and cut short a three-day streak of gains on Wednesday on nervousness over Russian gas supplies to the mainland, while Italian shares fell amid a political crisis involving the Prime Minister’s government. Minister Mario Draghi.

Italy’s MIB index sagged sharply, pressured by banking stocks. Draghi called on Wednesday for the Italian Senate to hold a vote of confidence that would effectively decide whether his coalition government would remain in power.

A vote on his speech is expected after the European market closes.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.21% at 422.51 points after rising as much as 0.5% earlier in the session.

The news that the European Union told EU member states to cut gas use by 15% by March as an emergency measure has affected sentiment, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent by the largest pipeline to Europe could be shortened even further and even stopped.

Concerns over a European energy crisis, a weaker euro and prospects that an aggressive monetary policy to contain rising inflation could trigger a global recession have rattled markets and deepened the STOXX 600’s decline this year to 13.4%. .

• In London, the Financial Times index dropped 0.44%, to 7,264.31 points;
• In Frankfurt, the DAX index fell 0.20% to 13,281.98 points;
• In Paris, the CAC-40 index lost 0.27% to 6,184.66 points;
• In Milan, the Ftse/Mib index had a devaluation of 1.60%, to 21,348.42 points;
• In Madrid, the Ibex-35 index registered a drop of 1.18%, to 8,028.90 points;
• In Lisbon, the PSI20 index depreciated by 0.60%, to 5,940.52 points.