European shares end marginally lower as ASML weighs on tech stocks
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ASML warning clouds Q1 earnings beat
UK records western Europe's highest inflation in March
Core euro zone inflation edges up in March
Adds comments, updates prices to close
By Shreyashi Sanyal
April 19 (Reuters) -European shares closed a touch lower on Wednesday after a warning from Dutch chip company ASML weighed down technology stocks, while a rise in shares of insurers limited overall declines.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX fell 0.1% but was still hovering around its 14-month highs. Hawkish comments by European Central Bank officials signalling more rate hikes also weighed on sentiment.
ECB's chief economist Philip Lane on Tuesday backed a further interest rate increase at the ECB's next meeting but said its size would depend on incoming data, while earlier that day Goldman Sachs raised its terminal rate forecast for the ECB to 3.75% from 3.5%.
"The ECB is the one central bank throughout the last three months that has been very stern on its rate path and where they expect it to go... we've seen unanimous responses starting with Lagarde all the way through the committee showing that hawkish stance," said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.
Rate-sensitive real estate .SX86P and technology shares .SX8P were down 1.0% and 1.9% respectively.
Tech stocks touched their lowest level in three weeks, after shares of ASML Holding NV ASML.AS fell 3.7% as it noted some signs of caution among customers, overshadowing a strong quarterly showing.
Other chipmakers ASM International ASMI.AS, BE Semiconductor BESI.AS and Aixtron AIXGn.DE fell between 1.8% and 4%.
Data showed euro zone inflation eased last month but underlying readings remained stubbornly high, raising worries at the ECB about the persistence of price pressures.
Separately, a report showed Britain now has western Europe's highest rate of consumer price inflation, despite falling to 10.1% in March from February's 10.4%.
London's FTSE 100 index .FTSE fell 0.1%.
The European insurance sector .SXIP rose 1.1%.
Allianz SE ALVG.DE gained 1.3% after one of its units was considering selling its stake in German online bank N26 at a steep discount, valuing the lender at $3 billion, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
European equities were faced with turmoil in the banking sector and uncertainty over interest rate hikes, but the STOXX 600 has recovered in April with gains of more than 2% so far as focus shifted to earnings.
"One thing to watch out for this earning season is we are likely to see improving profit margins," Hathorn said.
Heineken NV HEIN.AS rose 4.0% as it maintained its forecast for 2023 profit growth.
UniCredit CRDI.MI and Banco BPM BAMI.MI rose about 2% each after an Italian investor in both banks said that a merger would have "strategic value". The banks sector .SX7P added 0.8%.
Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Shubham Batra; Editing by Varun H K and Alex Richardson
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