LONDON (MarketWatch) — European stocks drifted lower Wednesday, with GlaxoSmithKline PLC among those losing ground and pushing the pan-European equity index toward its first loss in six sessions.
The Stoxx Europe 600 (XX:SXXP) (XX:SXXP) fell 0.3% to 343.59, erasing its 0.2% gain on Tuesday that left the index at a six-year high.
A 7.1% slide in Osram Licht AG shares (DE:OSR) left them among the worst performers on the Stoxx 600. The fall came after Osram said an "accelerated decline" in its traditional illumination business has led the lighting company to now expect revenue on last year's level, and "at best a modest revenue increase" on a comparable basis for the current fiscal year.
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Enlarge Image Also lower, shares of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (UK:GSK) fell 1.7% after the drug maker said British regulators are probing its commercial practices . No details of the action were included in its Tuesday statement, but Glaxo said it will fully cooperate with the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office.
The probe comes as Glaxo tries to clear up allegations from Chinese officials that Glaxo executives orchestrated the bribery of doctors and health-care groups in China to boost drug sales.
The fall in Glaxo shares tugged at the U.K.'s FTSE 100 (UK:UKX) , which slipped 0.1% to 6,840.70. But the FTSE 100's top advancer was London Stock Exchange Group (UK:LSE) , gaining 2.2% as the exchange operator was added to Credit Suisse's Europe focus list. The rating remained at outperform.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs put Telecom Italia SpA (IT:TIT) on its conviction buy list, and investors pushed the shares up 3.6%, to the top of the Stoxx 600. The move for the telecom company's shares aided in a 0.2% rise in Italy's FTSE MIB index (XX:FTSEMIB) .
In deal news, Nestlé SA (CH:NESN) has agreed to pay $1.4 billion for the rights to certain skin-care products from Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRX) as Nestlé builds up its newly established dermatology unit. Nestlé shares were up 0.1%.
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Among other country-specific indexes, the German DAX 30 (DX:DAX) shed 0.1% to 9,935.97, and France's CAC 40 (FR:PX1) gave up 0.1% at 4,523.64.
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