European Markets Finish Under Water On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The major European stock markets finished lower on Thursday, opening lower and then spending the session in negative territory to end near daily lows.

Geopolitical issues weighed as reports emerged that the U.S. military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend.

Elsewhere, Russia said it destroyed 113 Ukrainian drones overnight as U.S.-brokered Geneva talks ended without a breakthrough.

Germany's DAX dropped 234.64 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 25,043.57, while the FTSE in London sank 59.14 points or 0.55 percent to close at 10,627.04 and the CAC 40 in France lost 30.25 points or 0.36 percent to end at 8,398.78.

In Germany, Airbus plummeted 6.73 percent, while BASF tumbled 2.44 percent, Deutsche Bank retreated 1.90 percent, Vonovia jumped 1.64 percent, Volkswagen slumped 1.44 percent, Deutsche Telekom advanced 0.80 percent, Deutsche Post added 0.54 percent and Deutsche Borse slipped 0.28 percent.

In London, Centrica plunged 5.15 percent, easyJet crashed 3.41 percent, British American Tobacco rallied 2.97 percent, BAE System jumped 2.51 percent, Airtel Africa shed 1.85 percent, Entain lost 1.19 percent, Experian advanced 0.98 percent, Prudential fell 0.93 percent and Haleon sank 0.92 percent.

In France, Orange surged 7.46 percent, while Airbus tumbled 6.75 percent, Carrefour spiked 3.52 percent, Danone rallied 2.55 percent, Accor tanked 2.48 percent, Sanofi jumped 1.65 percent, Engie surrendered 1.49 percent, Vivendi advanced 0.92 percent, Societe Generale lost 0.69 percent and BNP Paribas slipped 0.44 percent.

In economic news, the euro area current account surplus increased in December due to a sharp fall in the deficit on primary income, the European Central Bank reported Thursday.

The trade surplus rose to EUR 15 billion in December from EUR 9 billion in the previous month. The surplus on goods trade fell to EUR 20 billion from EUR 24 billion a month ago. Meanwhile, the surplus on services trade rose to EUR 14 billion from EUR 12 billion.