Mixed closing in major European markets as the euro holds at $1.17

FRANKFURT, Germany—Major European markets closed the day with ups and downs on Tuesday, with the London Stock Exchange's main index rising 0.12% while the euro held steady at $1.17.

The euro held steady today, trading around $1.17, as markets remain cautious given the trade uncertainty and lack of progress in negotiations.

The euro was trading at $1.17 around 3:00 p.m. GMT, down from $1.1690 in the final hours of European foreign exchange trading the previous day.

The European Central Bank (ECB) set the euro's benchmark exchange rate at $1.1699 today. A fairly positive eurozone credit survey conducted by the ECB also provided positive momentum for the euro.

Markets are seeing a slowdown in trade negotiations between the US and the European Union (EU) as the August 1 deadline set by US President Donald Trump approaches.

The European Commission (EC) insisted that its "top priority" remains moving forward with negotiations to reach a trade agreement.

Market concerns remain about Trump's pressure on the Federal Reserve (Fed).

The single currency was traded within a fluctuation band between $1.1680 and $1.1709.

The London Stock Exchange closed up 0.12%, setting its second consecutive all-time high at the close of trading, closing at 9,023.81 points.

After closing the previous day above 9,000 points (9,012.99) for the first time, the British index broke through its ceiling again and achieved its highest score ever recorded, after also reaching its intraday high of around 9,034 points in the same session.

London's main index, the FTSE-100 , rose 10.82 points at the close to 9,023.81, while the secondary index, the FTSE-250 , which groups together smaller, generally British, companies, fell 0.36%, or 78.20 points, to 21,934.26.

In terms of earnings, the biggest gainers were food services multinational Compass Group, which rose 5.39%, followed by gas giant Centrica, which advanced 4.76%, and Swiss commodities giant Glencore, which grew 3.13%.

On the other side of the scale, budget airline EasyJet, which lost 2.84%, asset manager IGC, which fell 2.67%, and defense contractor Melrose Industries, which fell 2.50%, failed to catch the wave of this bullish trend.

The Spanish stock market finally managed to close with a marginal gain of 0.07%, holding the 14,000-point level, although it was affected by doubts on Wall Street, with investors awaiting the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting next Thursday.

The Spanish market's main index, the IBEX 35 , gained 10 points, or 0.07%, to close at 14,041 points. Year-to-date, its gains have increased to 21.1%.

Among the major stocks, the electricity company Iberdrola gained 0.89%; Telefónica, 0.26%; and the oil company Repsol, 0.08%. Banco Santander, meanwhile, fell 0.77%, the fourth-largest drop on the IBEX, and the financial group BBVA, 0.32%, while the textile giant Inditex closed flat (0.0%).

The Spanish index opened the day with losses and maintained its negative tone for most of the day, in line with the uncertainties in Europe and the New York Stock Exchange, although it managed to turn things around in the final minutes of trading and close in the green.

The Milan Stock Exchange closed unchanged, with its FTSE MIB index at 40,165 points, as uncertainty over US tariffs was offset by a steady opening on Wall Street.

The FTSE Italia All-Share index fell slightly by 0.05% to 42,676 points.

During the session, 304 million shares were traded for a value of 2.537 billion euros.

The Milanese market remained stable, awaiting Europe's agreement with Washington on tariffs and the European Central Bank's meeting scheduled for this Thursday, where interest rates are expected to remain unchanged.

Rumors of a partial agreement with the Tata group have once again boosted the automotive company Iveco (3.2%), while the spotlight remains on the banking sector: Unicredit advanced 0.07% on the day in which the stock market authority again suspended for 30 days its takeover bid for Banco BPM (+1.23%), which was due to conclude tomorrow.

The companies with the best results in the selective were the Iveco group (+7.78%), Poste Italiane 18.35 (+2.77%), the beverage group Campari (+1.71%) and the energy company Enel (+1.37%).

On the other hand, the company with the worst performance was Prysmian (-2.15%), ahead of the car manufacturers Stellantis (-1.92%) and Ferrari (-1.50%) and the luxury brand Brunello Cucinelli (-1.25%).

The Paris Stock Exchange closed with losses of 0.69% on the CAC 40 index , at the end of a dull session with investors awaiting the start of the quarterly earnings season for companies on both sides of the Atlantic tomorrow.

The index, which had been trading in the red all day, although losses were never significant, closed at 7,744.41 points, with the market also keeping an eye on possible developments in U.S. tariff policy.

The defense and aeronautics firm Safran led the losses today (-2.68%), followed by Airbus (-2.53%) and Saint Gobain (-2.11%).

Other stocks sensitive to US tariffs also suffered significant declines, such as Stellantis (-1.89%) and Schneider Electric (-1.68%).

In terms of earnings, Eurofins rose 2.89%, Kering 2.67%, and Pernod Ricard 2.46%.

Frankfurt's DAX 40 fell 1.09% after companies reported disappointing results in Europe and the US, and Sartorius fell sharply due to its outlook.

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange's selective index lost 1.09% to 24,041.90 points.

Laboratory equipment manufacturer Sartorius closed down 5.4% at €191.45, but plummeted more than 12% as analysts considered its forecasts to be conservative despite the company's strong results.

Semiconductor manufacturer Infineon fell 3.5% to 37.15 euros after Dutch company NXP Semiconductors issued a less-than-optimistic outlook.

Arms manufacturer Rheinmetall fell 3.4% to €1,754, and Siemens Energy, the parent company of Gamesa, lost 2.9% to €91.04.

Healthcare technology company Fresenius rose 2.4% to €41.72, energy company RWE advanced 1.5% to €37.69, and truck manufacturer Daimler Truck gained 1.5% to €41.27.

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