European shares fall as earnings deluge disappoints
STOXX 600 down 0.7%
Universal Music Group slumps as streaming growth disappoints
Kering down after weak H2 forecast
Besi tumbles as Q3 outlook disappoints
Unilever gains after H1 profit beat
Updated at 1600 GMT
By Pranav Kashyap and Shashwat Chauhan
July 25 (Reuters) -European shares closed lower on Thursday as a slate of downbeat earnings reports in several sectors including tech and luxury weighed, while a global run for safe haven assets further exacerbated losses.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX closed 0.7% lower, though well off session lows, after hitting its lowest for over two months intraday.
Media shares .SXMP declined 3%, the most among major STOXX 600 sectors, dragged by a 23.5% slide in Universal Music Group UMG.AS after the world's biggest music label reported lower-than-expected streaming and subscription revenue for the second quarter.
The tech sector .SX8P lost 2.8%, with Dutch chipmaking parts supplier BE Semiconductor Industries (Besi) BESI.AS tumbling 14% after forecasting flat third-quarter sales, which fell below market expectations.
Paris-listed shares of STMicroelectronics STMPA.PA dropped 13.7% after the chipmaker cut its full-year revenue and margins guidance for a second time.
Other industry heavyweights such as ASMI ASMI.AS and ASML ASML.AS dropped about 4% each.
An extended selling frenzy of tech shares in U.S. further weighed on the sector. .N
Europe's automobile shares .SXAP lost 1.7%, dragged by a 8.7% tumble in Stellantis STLAM.MI after the carmaker delivered worse-than-expected first-half results.
Adding to the drag, Renault RENA.PA retreated 7.5% after alliance partner Nissan Motor 7201.T slashed its full-year outlook after its first-quarter profit was almost completely wiped.
Nestle NESN.S fell 5.1% after the world's biggest packaged food company lowered its sales outlook, while Kering PRTP.PA lost 7.5% after the French luxury group reported a bigger-than-expected drop in second-quarter sales and forecast a weak second half of the year.
A gauge of the 10 biggest European luxury firms .STXLUXP fell about 1.7%, touching a six-month low.
Amid the global sell-off, investors fled to less risky assets, including short-dated bonds, with the yield on the German two-year bond DE2YT=RR at its lowest level since February. MKTS/GLOB GVD/EUR
"On the surface, the intense political climate seems to have caused a notable shift in the marketplace, moving from prominent tech stocks to cyclical, defence, and small caps," said Jeff O'Connor, head of market structure at Liquidnet.
On the bright side, UK's blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE was an outlier, gaining 0.4% as index heavyweight Unilever ULVR.L gained 6.2% after beating first-half profit estimates.
Swiss contract drug manufacturer Lonza LONN.S gained 7.1% after reporting a smaller-than-expected decline in first-half profit, while Sanofi SASY.PA jumped 4.2% after the French drugmaker raised its full-year profit outlook.
On the data front, a survey of around 9,000 managers showed German business morale unexpectedly fell in July amid increasing pessimism about the performance of Europe's largest economy.
Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Timothy Heritage
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