European markets ended lower on Thursday amid fresh concerns about the spread of coronavirus after reports confirmed over 70 cases of infection in Japan as of Wednesday, and 31 new cases in South Korea.
Some disappointing earnings news weighed as well on sentiment and rendered the mood negative.
The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 0.86%. Among the major markets in Europe, Germany and France ended notably lower, with their benchmarks DAX and CAC 40 losing 0.91% and 0.8%, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.27% and Switzerland's SMI shed 0.96%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey ended with sharp to moderate losses.
Iceland, Norway and Russia closed higher, while Sweden ended flat.
In Germany, MTU Aero, Adidas, Lufthansa, Muench.Rueckvers, Merck, E.ON and Infineon declined 2 to 3%.
Wirecard, Allianz, Vonovia, Linde, SAP, Bayer and RWE also ended notably lower.
On the other hand, Fresenius rallied 3.7%. Daimler gained about 2.3% and Covestro ended nearly 1.5% up.
In the French market, Atos, Kering, AXA, L'Oreal, Louis Vuitton, Pernod Ricard, Hermes International, Societe Generale, Capgemini, STMicroElectronics and Credit Agricole lost 1 to 4.3%.
Shares of Schneider Electric climbed more than 5.5%. Bouygues gained about 4.5% and Renault rallied 3%. Thales and Publicis Groupe also ended notably higher.
In the UK market, Imperial Brands declined more than 7%, Aveva Group ended down 5.6% and Burberry Group declined 4.6%. Meggitt ended nearly 4% down and Taylor Wimpey lost about 2.5%.
NMC Health soared nearly 10%. Smith & Nephew gained about 7.3%, while Centrica, Smith DS and Barclays gained 2.6 to 4.2%.
In economic news, Switzerland's exports rose for the first time in four months, while imports declined in January, data from the Federal Customs Administration showed.
Exports increased by a real 1.7% month-on-month in January, after a 2% fall in December. Imports fell 1.8% in January, after a 0.3% rise in the previous month.
The trade surplus increased to CHF 2.81 billion in January from CHF 2.03 billion in the previous month. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, watch exports rose 9.4% year-on-year in January.
Germany's consumer confidence is set to ease slightly in March, as a modest gain in economic expectations were offset by moderate losses in income outlook and the propensity to buy, results of a monthly survey by the market research firm GfK showed.
The forward-looking GfK consumer confidence index fell to 9.8 points for March from 9.9 in February. That was in line with economists' expectations.
Data from Destatis showed Germany's producer price index rose 0.2% year-on-year in January, reversing a 0.2% decrease seen in December. Economists had expected a 0.4% fall.
France's consumer price index rose 1.5% year-on-year in January, same as in December.
UK retail sales rose for the first time in three months in January and at a faster than expected pace, led by a strong demand for clothing and footwear and food. U.K. retail sales grew 0.9% sequentially in January after falls in the previous two months, official data showed.
Worries about coronavirus outbreak lingered even as new cases of infection in China saw a significant fall. China's National Health Commission reported an additional 114 deaths from the virus, and 394 new confirmed cases, bringing the total deaths in the mainland to 2,118 and the confirmed cases to 74,576.
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