European markets close lower

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - European stock exchanges closed lower Wednesday on inflation fears triggered by a jump in energy prices.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 4.6 points, or 1.02%, to close at 454 points.

London's FTSE 100 was off 19.4 points, or 0.26%, to finish at 7,457.

Germany's DAX 30 lost 189.5 points, or 1.31%, to end the day at 14,283, while France's CAC 40 was down 78 points, or 1.17%, to 6,581.

Italy's FTSE MIB slipped 228.8 points, or 0.93%, to close at 24,305.

Spain's IBEX 35 was the worst performer of the day, plummeting 158.8 points, or 1.87%, to 8,328.

Crude prices rose significantly on reports Russian and Kazakhstan oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) from the Black Sea will be halted for one and a half months.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading at $120.85 at 18.30 GMT, rising 4.65%.

The CPC outage came after Russia warned Tuesday that storm-damaged berths might reduce oil flow by up to 1 million barrels per day (bpd), or 1% of global oil production.

The one-month disruption also came after the US said it is working on new sanctions against Russia, which may include EU bans on Russian oil.