By Shashwat Chauhan and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -Europe's benchmark stock index dropped to a three-week low in a broad-based sell-off on Wednesday, testing 2023's rally spurred by hopes of major central banks pivoting to easier monetary policy this year.
The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.9% lower, hitting its lowest level since Dec. 14 and logging its worst single-day performance since November after kicking off the New Year on a lacklustre note on Tuesday.
Flagship indexes in Germany, Italy and France each slid over 1%, hitting near one-month lows.
Construction and materials led sectoral declines, dropping 2.9%, logging its worst single-day percentage fall in nearly six months.
The financial services index declined 2.5%, while weaker metal prices pushed basic resources down 2.3%.
Luxury giants LVMH (EPA:LVMH), Kering (LON:0IIH), Hermes and Richemont (LON:0QMU) lost between 1.9% and 3.8%. The broader sector shed 2.7%, hitting its lowest level since late November.
Growing expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will cut interest rates in 2024 had propelled a 12.7% jump in the benchmark STOXX 600 in 2023.
"If something happens that's not in that script, then there may be some risk of disappointment," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
"Markets are just pausing for breath now, waiting for some degree of confirmation, plus there's no greater amount of news flow to go on at the moment."
Among data released on Wednesday, the number of unemployed people in Germany rose slightly in December, though by much less than analysts had expected. U.S. job openings fell for the third straight month in November.
Wall Street had a dour start to the session ahead of the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes that could offer more clues on its interest rate path. [.N]
On the flipside, healthcare rose 0.8%, clocking its fourth straight session of gains, while telecoms added 0.2%.
Among individual stocks, Ryanair (LON:0RYA) lost 4.9% after multiple online travel agents stopped selling its flights in early December, and on a traffic numbers update.
Computer chip equipment maker ASML (AS:ASML) fell 2.9%, down for the second day, following the Dutch government's partial revoking of an export licence for some China shipments.
Maersk advanced 5.1% after Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) upgraded the Danish shipping company's stock rating to "neutral" from "sell."