European stock close

European stocks retreated after six consecutive days of gains that sent the Stoxx Europe 600 Index to its highest level in more than five years.

The Stoxx 600 slipped 0.2 percent. The equity gauge has gained 0.6 percent this month and is heading for its biggest annual rally since 2009.

The Stoxx 600 gained 5.3 percent in the six days through Dec. 27, the most since July 2012. The gauge completed a second weekly gain following better-than-forecast U.S. economic data and after the International Monetary Fund said it will raise its growth outlook for the nation. The index has advanced 17 percent this year. It reached 327.68 at the end of last week, the highest since May 2008.

National benchmark indexes fell in 13 of the 18 western-European markets.

FTSE 100 6,731.27 -19.60 -0.29% CAC 40 4,275.71 -1.94 -0.05% DAX 9,552.16 -37.23 -0.39%

Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes rose less than forecast in November. A gauge of pending home sales climbed 0.2 percent, the first gain in six month, after a 1.2 percent drop in October that was larger than initially reported, the National Association of Realtors said. The median projection of economists called for a 1 percent advance.

Swatch dropped 1 percent to 588 Swiss francs. A fire yesterday caused damage to a workshop of its ETA unit at Grenchen, in the canton of Solothurn. While nobody was harmed, the workshop was entirely destroyed, the company said yesterday, adding that it was too early to put a figure on the damage.

Marks & Spencer Group Plc retreated 1.5 percent to 443.5 pence and Delhaize Group fell 2.1 percent to 43.16 euros. A gauge of Stoxx 600 retailers fell 0.4 percent for the second-largest decline.

IPF jumped 9.8 percent to 499.9 pence. Numis, which placed IPF shares under review last week, upgraded them to buy, saying that risk is priced in after last week’s slump. The lender of small, unsecured cash loans said on Dec. 24 that the Polish Office of Consumer Protection and Competition fined its local unit 2.4 million pounds ($3.9 million) for infringing consumers’ interests.

Vedanta climbed 4.1 percent to 938.5 pence. Its subsidiary Sesa Sterlite, India’s biggest producer of aluminum, zinc and copper, received permission from a committee appointed by the nation’s top court to resume mining at its Karnataka mine.

Outotec Oyj (OTE1V) rose 2.8 percent to 7.61 euros. The Finnish maker of mining machinery and supplier of smelters won an order from OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s biggest mining company.