STOXX 600 ends eight-day winning streak; ECB decision in focus

By Shubham Batra and Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) - The STOXX 600 index settled lower on Tuesday, ending an eight-session winning run, with luxury stocks leading declines after weak trade data out of China, while investors awaited a policy decision by the European Central bank later in the week.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was down 0.5%, with France's CAC 40 off 1.1%, falling the most among major European economies.

Data showed China's exports slowed sharply and imports unexpectedly shrank in November, in a worrying sign for the world's No. 2 economy.

Stocks of luxury companies that earn a substantial amount of their revenue from China, such as LVMH and Kering, lost 2.5% and 2.2% respectively, sending the broader luxury index down by 1.6%.

Markets also monitored political developments in France with the centre-left Socialists seen as likely kingmakers in the new government.

In Britain, the blue-chip FTSE 100 dropped 0.8%, with Ashtead sliding 14% after the equipment rental firm said it would shift its primary listing to the U.S., its biggest market, from London, and said it expects annual profit to come in below its previous expectations.

Meanwhile, data confirmed a prior estimate that domestic inflation remained flat at 2.4% in November. Germany's benchmark DAX index was muted.

Top on the agenda this week is Thursday's interest rate decision by the ECB, with traders pricing in an 85% probability of a 25 basis points interest rate cut, as per LSEG interest rate probabilities.

"We think data will probably need to deteriorate further for the ECB to increase the pace of cuts. And we believe recent data probably isn't enough yet to make the ECB shift up a gear. Tariffs or related uncertainty could get us there," economists led by Ruben Segura-Cayuela at BofA Global Research said.

The STOXX index had logged declines in September and October the run up to U.S. elections and had witnessed volatility in the aftermath of Donald Trump's win on expectations that his trade policies could hurt European companies that are dependent on export revenues.

Markets will also parse U.S. inflation data on Wednesday, that may influence bets on the Federal Reserve's move at its meeting next week.

Back home, the auto sector led advances by 0.6%, led by D'leteren Group's 27% jump - its strongest one-day rise on record.

Among other movers, Delivery Hero dropped 12% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after it listed its Middle East subsidiary, Talabat, on the Dubai Stock Exchange in the largest global technology initial public offer in 2024.

Allianz dipped 0.2% after one of Europe's biggest insurers raised its three-year financial targets after outperforming its key goals for this year.

(Reporting by Shubham Batra, Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Angus MacSwan)