European stock markets close Tuesday mostly higher

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - European stock markets ended the second trading day of the week with gains, except for France.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.15%, or 0.8 points, to close at 541.4.

Germany's DAX 40 index was up 0.37% to end at 23,846.07 points, and the UK's FTSE 100 index increased 0.16% to 9,142.73 points.

Italy's FTSE MIB 30 index gained 0.11% to 40,743.52 points, and Spain's IBEX 35 index rose 0.15% to end at 14,407.5 points.

On the other hand, France's CAC 40 fell 0.14% to close the day at 7,621.04 points.

Following US President Donald Trump's remarks that he will introduce new tariffs on chips and semiconductors as early as next week, European semiconductor stocks lost the gains they had made earlier in the trading session.

The sector's largest decline was 2.62% for BE Semiconductor. And ASML saw a 0.88% fall.

Trump also announced plans to impose escalating tariffs on pharmaceuticals, starting with small levies that will reach 250% within a few years, to encourage domestic production.

On the data side, industrial producer prices increased by 0.8% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU month-on-month in June.

US electric vehicle giant Tesla saw its sales down around 60% year-on-year in the UK in July, while they fell 55% in Germany.