European stocks ended weak on Monday, snapping a long 10-session winning streak, as worries about growth resurfaced due to the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries, and disappointing Chinese economic data.
Geopolitical concerns following the collapse of the Afghanistan government added to the woes.
China’s industrial production growth slowed to 6.4% in July from 8.3% a month ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed Monday. Output was expected to gain 7.8%.
Retail sales in China grew at a slower pace of 8.5% on a yearly basis, following a 12.1% rise in June. This was also weaker than the economists’ forecast of 11.5%.
The pan European Stoxx 600 is declining by about 0.5%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is sliding 1.07%, Germany’s DAX is down 0.42% and France’s CAC 40 is tumbling 0.8%.
The pan European Stoxx 600 declined 0.5%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 shed 0.9%, Germany’s DAX ended 0.32% down and France’s CAC 40 drifted down 0.83%, while Switzerland’s SMI ended lower by 0.36%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden drifted lower.
Greece, Iceland, Russia and Turkey closed higher, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Portugal ended flat.
In the British market, Prudential, Burberry Group, Weir Group, Entain, Evraz, JD Sports Fashion, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Next, Scottish Mortgage, Glencore, Rio Tinto and ICP lost 2 to 4%.
Standard Chartered, Anglo American, BHP Group and HSBC Holdings also declined sharply.
Fresnillo, Coca-Cola, Ocado Group and Phoenix Group Holdings gained 1.3 to 2%.
In the German market, Lufthansa declined nearly 4%. Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and Henkel lost 2 to 2.5%. Covestro, HeidelbergCement, Adidas and MTU Aero Engines, BASF, Infineon Technologies and Thyssenkrupp shed 1 to 1.4%.
In France, Kering and Technip both ended lower by more than 4%. LVMH, Renault, ArcelorMittal, Safran, Societe Generale, Sodexo, Air France-KLM, Hermes International, Unibail Rodamco, Accor and Essilor also ended notably lower.
Shares of insurance company Axa declined by about 0.7%. The company has announced the sale of its operations in Singapore to HSBC for $575 million.
Faurecia soared nearly 12% after the company won the bid to acquire a majority stake in German automotive lighting group Hella, trumping rival bidders and creating the world’s seventh-largest player. Faurecia is set to buy a 60% stake in Hella from the founding Hueck family through a mixture of cash and stock, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The Hueck family will take up to 9% of the combined company.
In European economic news, Denmark’s economy expanded in the second quarter, with GDP growing 2.2% sequentially, mainly due to the progress in catering, culture and retail as activity recovered with the coronavirus pandemic subsiding, preliminary data from Statistics Denmark showed.
Another data said Denmark’s producer price inflation increased 11.8% year-on-year in July, the highest level since September 2008.
Market Analysis
European Stocks Snap Long Winning Streak, Settle Notably Lower
2021-08-16 16:56:18
