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European markets opened in negative territory on Monday, in what will be the region’s last full trading session of the year.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down around 0.4% shortly after the open, with all sectors and major stock markets in negative territory. Industrial, media and technology stocks led the losses.

Trading is expected to be subdued in Europe on Monday, as markets prepare to relax for the New Year holidays.

Over the weekend, Robert Holzmann, member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, told the Austrian newspaper Kurier that the institution could stop its rate cut campaign thanks to the rigidity of inflation.

“I don’t see any increase in interest rates at the moment,” he said. “What could happen, however, is that more time is needed until the next interest rate cut.”

His comments came as Italian lawmakers approved his government’s budget for 2025which aims to bring the country’s fiscal deficit closer to 3% to comply with EU standards.

In an interview published on Saturday, France’s newly appointed Finance Minister Eric Lombard told a media outlet Sunday’s Tribune The country’s impending 2025 budget bill would target a deficit slightly above 5%, according to a translation by the Reuters news agency.

In economic data, Spain will publish its latest inflation figures on Monday and Türkiye will update its economic confidence index.

We will spend the night in Asia, stocks were mixed as investors monitored political turmoil in South Korea as well as industrial data outside the country. Japan also released economic data earlier in the week that showed the contraction in its factory activity slowed this month.

Shares of Korean airlines fell on Monday after the Jeju Air plane crash which killed 179 people the day before, and Jeju Air’s stock price hit an all-time low.

— CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan and Reuters contributed to this roundup of European markets.