European shares fell on Wednesday, weighed by technology stocks after France's Dassault Systèmes results disappointed investors, as worries persist about the repercussions that newer artificial intelligence models could have on traditional businesses. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX), opens new tab slipped 0.2% to 619.66 points by 0820 GMT, with France's CAC 40 index (.FCHI), opens new tab dropping the most among regional benchmarks, down 0.3%.
After an initial trading halt, software maker Dassault (DAST.PA), opens new tab tanked nearly 20% after reporting quarterly results, with fourth-quarter revenue rising just 1% at constant currency to 1.68 billion euros ($2.00 billion), at the lower end of guidance. Dassault was among the stocks that took a hit last week as AI-disruption worries swept through global markets. The broader technology sector (.SX8P), opens new tab fell 2% and led sectoral declines. Similarly, insurance undefined stocks took the brunt of the hit this week after the release of the Insurify ChatGPT tool, after which brokerage Barclays downgraded the European sector to 'Underweight'. The sector <.SXIP> has lost nearly 2% this week.
Investors instead preferred hardware makers such as Siemens Energy <ENR1n.DE, opens new tab>, which gained 5.2% after the AI equipment maker said net profit nearly tripled in the first three months of its fiscal year. Among others, London Stock Exchange Group <LSEG.L, opens new tab> gained 2.7% after a report that activist hedge fund Elliott Management built a significant stake in the data provider. Heineken <HEIN.AS, opens new tab> added 4.4% after saying it would cut up to 6,000 jobs from its global workforce.
