Return to the ‘red’ for the European markets

European stock markets have lost ground and continue to trade negatively on Friday as investors remain wary of escalating tensions on Ukraine’s eastern front amid growing fears of a possible escalation of hostilities in Russia. Of Ukraine.

U.S. and NATO officials said today that figures from the field show that Russia is increasing its units near the Ukrainian border despite recent assurances from the Kremlin that it has begun withdrawing troops.

In a speech to the UN Security Council on Thursday, US Secretary of State Blinken again called on Russia to “abandon the path of war”. “Our information clearly shows that ‘Russian forces on the Ukrainian border, including ground forces and aircraft, are preparing to launch an attack on Ukraine in the coming days,'” Blinken said.

However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken next week for new talks on Ukraine, keeping alive hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index fell 0.6% to 461.56 points.

The German DAX loses 1.2% at 15,078.32 points, the French CAC-40 is down 0.3% at 6,928.37 points, while the British FTSE 100 is moving with lower losses of 0.2% at 7,521.15 points.

In the periphery, the Italian FTSE MIB lost 0.4%, while the Spanish IBEX 35 fell 0.8%.

In business developments, Renault is gaining 1.1% after the French carmaker announced that it has returned to profits in 2021 and plans to repay the government aid it received to deal with the pandemic earlier than planned.

On the other hand, the luxury goods company Hermes fell 5.2% as sales in the fourth quarter failed to confirm analysts’ estimates.

The EDF energy group plunged 3.8% after announcing that it would issue shares to raise about 2.5 billion euros.