European stock indices moved lower at the open, with consumer stocks that had gained in the previous session giving back some of those advances.

The technology sector continued to show weakness, with the Europe Stoxx 600 index falling by 0.7%. STMicroelectronics NV plunged more than 15% after releasing its financial results, weighing on the French and Italian equity benchmarks.

Italy's FTSE MIB index dropped 1.4%, while the French CAC 40 index in Paris declined 0.9% as luxury goods stocks extended their recent slide. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE fell 1.9%.

Germany's DAX index decreased by 0.8%, with chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG down 5.6%.

The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 0.4% amid declines in pharmaceutical stocks, with GlaxoSmithKline plc down 2.3% and AstraZeneca PLC off 1.8%.

Artificial intelligence-related shares weighed on the Dutch AEX index, which dropped 0.8%. BE Semiconductor Industries NV declined 3.1% following its earnings report.

STMicroelectronics NV on Thursday forecast third-quarter revenue slightly below the midpoint of market expectations, but stated that chip demand from the automotive, AI-related, datacenter optical communications, and consumer electronics markets is recovering.

The Franco-Italian chipmaker anticipates third-quarter revenue of $3.7 billion, with a variability of plus or minus 3.5%, while analysts' average estimate was $3.72 billion.