European stocks give up 11-month high on profit-taking

European stocks fell on Friday, and pulled back from an 11-month high on profit-taking, and the market's risk-off sentiment due to concerns over the rising Covid-19 infections in Europe, and China's new lockdown measures.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell more than 0.9% as of 11:15 GMT, after it closed higher by 0.4% yesterday, and hit the highest level since February 2020 at 413.98 points.

The travel and leisure sector saw the largest losses in Europe, with a drop of more than 2%, based on the renewed concerns about the pandemic.

Europe's composite PMI (for manufacturing and service activities) fell to 47.5 points in January from 49.1 points in December.

The Chinese authorities imposed new lockdown restrictions in the country, aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, after 103 new cases of were reported on Friday and 144 cases on Thursday.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.75%, after the index closed flat yesterday at Wall Street at its record high of 3,861.45 points.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 1.1%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.25%, the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.9%, and Germany's DAX dropped 0.9%.