European Shares Fall on Rising Inflation Fears

European shares fell on Friday after comments pointing to tightening monetary policy from US central bank officials, which reinforced concerns about the repercussions, while German SAP reported strong quarterly profits in the cloud database sector.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.7 percent, following the path of declining global markets, in light of nervousness following comments from officials at the Federal Reserve about hinting at a rate hike in March to combat inflation.

All sectors declined, and the technology sector was the most declining, down 1.3 percent, while the banking sector was among the least decline.

But German software company SAP rose 1.9 percent and was among the best performers on the STOXX 600, after it said its fourth-quarter profit from the cloud computing sector jumped 28 percent.

Shares of French electricity company EDF plunged 23.4 percent after France ordered state-controlled companies to sell more cheap nuclear power to smaller competitors to curb the country’s high electricity prices.