Europe close: Stocks mostly lower following last week's rout

(Sharecast News) - European stocks closed mostly lower on Monday following last week's turmoil. At the close, the benchmark Stoxx 600 index was down at 0.04% at 499.0, Germany's DAX was 0.06% lower at 17,711,60, France's CAC 40 was 0.26% lower at 7,250.67 and Spain's IBEX 35 was 0.07% firmer at 10,646.20.

Patrick Munnelly at Tickmill Group said traders would likely be hesitant to make large moves ahead of important US inflation data later this week, stating: "Markets will be driven this week by speeches by Fed officials, China's monthly activity data, monetary policy meetings of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and Norges Bank, US inflation data that is crucial to Federal Reserve interest rate forecasts, and US earnings releases.

"The US July PPI on Tuesday and the July CPI on Wednesday could shed light on whether the markets have priced in the likelihood of a 50 basis point reduction in the Federal Reserve rate in September at 51%, in response to the weak July employment report."

Closer to home, the main focus this week will be on eurozone GDP and employment numbers, due out on Wednesday.

In corporate news, German reinsurer Hannover Re jumped after solid second-quarter results, while BT Group rallied after Bharti Global bought Altice UK's 24.5% stake in the telecoms company.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com