By Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian

(Reuters) -European shares fell slightly in their first May trading session on Thursday as investors returned from a mid-week holiday to gauge a slew of earnings after the Federal Reserve signalled a delay in U.S. interest rate cuts.

The pan-European STOXX 600 eased 0.2% after logging its first monthly decline this year in April.

Market sentiment has cooled as investors navigate risks surrounding the Middle East conflict, the European Central Bank’s policy outlook beyond June, and the corporate earnings season.

European equities were closed due to the Labour Day holiday on Wednesday, a day that saw the U.S. Fed signal rates would stay higher for longer owing to recent disappointing inflation readings.

“Powell noted the uncertain path forward for U.S. inflation, our base case remains that inflation and economic growth will cool off, allowing the Fed to begin cutting rates in September,” UBS analysts said in a note.

While investors are widely confident of an ECB interest rate cut in June, there is still a touch of uncertainty about the path beyond that.

On the earnings front, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk raised its 2024 outlook as it races to boost output of its Wegovy weight-loss treatment. But competition from rival Eli Lilly forced the company to cut prices of the drug, knocking its shares nearly 3% lower.

The drugmaker weighed on Copenhagen’s OMX 20 index, while the broader healthcare sector lost 0.7%.

Netherlands’ ING Groep rose 6.4% after announcing a 2.5-billion-euro ($2.68 billion) share buyback and a strong first-quarter performance, while Britain’s Standard Chartered jumped 8.8% following a first-quarter profit beat, putting the banking index among top gaining sectors.

Hugo Boss was the STOXX’s biggest loser, down nearly 10% after the premium apparel brand flagged weaker demand in China and concern about U.S. consumer sentiment ahead of the presidential election.

Of the 136 companies on the STOXX 600 to have reported earnings to date, 58.8% have exceeded analyst estimates, compared with a long term average of 54%, according to weekly LSEG data released on Tuesday.

Danish shipping giant Maersk dropped 4.4% after a first-quarter earnings miss, while French office services and call centre company Teleperformance was up 13.8% on higher first-quarter sales.

Danish hearing-aid company GN Store Nord rose 11.9% after better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

Meanwhile, a survey showed the ongoing downturn in euro zone manufacturing activity deepened in April, pushing firms to reduce headcount again.

(Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Kirsten Donovan)

---