(Reuters) – Rising bond yields dragged European stocks lower on Friday, but major bourses were set for strong weekly gains as stimulus and vaccination programmes spurred hopes of a solid economic recovery.
The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 0.4% in early trading, after a four-session winning streak drove the index to pre-pandemic highs a day earlier.
With the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield back above 1.6%, investors booked some profits, especially in the tech sector, which was down 1.4%.
Dutch company Prosus, which holds a third of Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings, dropped 4.8% as the Chinese market regulator fined 12 companies including Tencent related to deals that demonstrated illegal monopolistic behaviours.
German carmaker Daimler slipped 2.0% after French rival Renault sold its entire stake in the company at a discount.
British luxury group Burberry jumped 7.2% to the top of STOXX 600 after saying it had seen a strong rebound in sales since December.
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
