European Stocks Close Mostly Lower

European stocks closed lower on Thursday, with markets reacting to the relatively hawkish expressed by the U.S. Federal Reserve as it now expects to raise interest rates earlier than expected.

The STOXX Europe 600 index declined by 0.12% to close at 459.33 points, after rising for nine consecutive sessions and registering multiple record highs.

Losses led by the commodities stocks, following a drop in prices due to the rise of the U.S. Dollar (USD), reflected negatively on the pan-European index.

Meanwhile, the blue chip STOXX 50 index rose by 0.11% at 3,580.06 points.

The UK’s FTSE100 and the French CAC40 indices lost 0.44% and 0.2%, respectively.

On the other hand, the German DAX rose by 0.11% to finish at 15,727.67 points.