European markets close flat on first trading day in September; Rightmove jumps 27%.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.04% lower, with regional bourses and sectors diverging. Retail stocks ended 0.77% lower, while telecoms added 0.78%. Shares in real estate listings company Rightmove closed up 27% higher after its Australian rival REA Group said it was considering making an offer for for the U.K.-based platform. On the data front, a series of final readings of manufacturing PMIs from across Europe were released Monday. This included euro zone manufacturing activity, which remained firmly in contractive territory, coming in at 45.8 in August as it was weighed down by Germany and France, the report from the Hamburg Commercial Bank and S&P Global showed. Elsewhere, the U.K. manufacturing PMI increased to a 26-month high of 52.5 in August, which is in expansion territory, according to the report by S&P Global. Regional markets closed higher last Friday, the last trading day of August, as investors considered inflation data from around the world and expectations rise that the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin interest rate cuts in September. Data released last week showed the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the personal consumption expenditures price index, rose 0.2% on a monthly basis in July and 2.5% from a year ago. The result was in line with estimates from economists polled by Dow Jones. Excluding food and energy, it also rose 0.2% from the prior month. The data is likely to influence policymakers’ rate decision in September.