European stocks close lower driven by miners, energy

European stocks ended lower Monday, swaying between small gains and losses and tracking moves in the U.S. dollar and oil prices.

The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, -0.26% finished down a narrow 0.3% at 340.82.

“After three weeks of momentous macro moments things slow down as March begins to wrap up,” wrote Connor Campbell, financial analyst, at Spreadex, in a Monday note.

There had been a “limp start” to the European session as a dollar rebound hurt dollar-denominated commodity prices. The dollar DXY, +0.25% gained following last week’s loss of more than 1% against key rivals when the Federal Reserve signaled a slower pace of interest rate increases this year. The euro EURUSD, -0.1508% fell 0.2% to $1.1243 Monday during stock hours.

In the commodities space, mining shares were hurt, with Sweden’s Boliden AB BOL, -5.02% losing 5% and platinum producer Anglo American PLC AAL, -1.06% off 1.1%. Industrial miner ArcelorMittal SA MT, -3.97% gave up 4%.

Oil prices LCOK6, +1.02% CLJ6, +1.19% traded higher after showing choppy action earlier, with pressure coming after data on Friday showed the first increase in the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs in 13 weeks.

Shares of oil producer Tullow Oil PLC TLW, -1.42% closed down 1.4% and oil-field services provider Seadrill Ltd. SDRL, -6.34% shed 6.3%.

Elsewhere in the European market, Telecom Italia SpA TIT, +3.07% shares climbed 3.1% after the company said it is set to part ways from Chief Executive Marco Patuano. That follows clashes over strategy after France’s Vivendi SA VIV, -0.85% took a near 25% stake last year.

The Stoxx 600 on Friday had moved higher after the ECB’s chief economist, Peter Praet, said interest rates could be cut further. He also expressed openness to “helicopter money,” or the central bank delivering money directly to the people. The index on Friday picked up 0.3% but also ended last week lower by 0.2%.

Indexes: Germany’s DAX 30 DAX, -0.02% closed down less than 0.1% at 9,948.64. France’s CAC 40 PX1, -0.78% shed 0.8% to 4,427.80, while the U.K’s FTSE 100 UKX, -0.08% finished 0.1% lower at 6,148.58.

Source: MarketWatch