(Reuters) – European shares kicked off Friday’s trade on a weaker note, led by declines in technology and real-estate companies, as investors looked forward to euro zone inflation data for some clarity on the path for interest rate cuts beyond June.
The pan-European STOXX 600 dipped 0.2% as of 0715 GMT, but was on track for its second straight weekly advance owing to a robust corporate earnings season.
All eyes are on the final euro zone inflation reading later in the day, after a report showed European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel advocated caution about further rate cuts after a likely first one in June.
Rate-sensitive technology and real estate were the worst-hit sectors, down 0.7% each.
Meanwhile, personal and household goods led sectoral gains, with luxury group Richemont climbing 6% after quarterly results.
H&M rose 2.5% after RBC upgraded the fashion retailer to “outperform” from “sector perform”.
French re-insurer Scor dropped 8.0% after first-quarter results.
Nibe lost 4.6% after Citigroup downgraded the Swedish heat-pump maker to “neutral” from “buy”, while German utility E.ON lost 4.1% on trading ex-dividend.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)