Unilever director Dave Lewis, who is to replace Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke. Tesco shares gained 1.28% yesterday after the struggling British supermarket announced its CEO Clarke would be replaced by Lewis in October.
AFP/London
Europe’s main stock markets fell for a third day yesterday, weighed down by concerns the US and Europe could toughen their sanctions against Russia, and by escalating violence in Gaza.
Frankfurt’s main DAX index slipped 1.11% to 9,612.05 points, compared to Friday’s closing levels. Earlier it breached 9,600 for the first time in two months.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index closed 0.31% lower at 6,728.44 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 ended the day down 0.71% at 4,304.74.
“European shares started the week undoing some of Friday’s relief rally as uncertainty surrounding the downing of Malaysian airliner MH17 and the increasing death toll in Gaza fed into a negative tone,” said Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets.
“German producer prices were flat in June in another sign that some of the heat was coming out of the German economy and the increased sanctions on Russia are not helping future prospects.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the EU was ready to toughen sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine plane disaster. Russia hit back, with a senior military official saying Russian records showed that a Ukrainian Su-25 battle jet had flown close to the Malaysian passenger jet before it crashed.
The Moscow stock market sank for a sixth day as investors were alarmed by the escalating crisis in Ukraine and the prospect of tougher sanctions doing more damage to the Russian economy.
The tensions with Russia also weighed on US stocks, which opened lower as investors eyed the conflicts at the start of a busy week of corporate earnings.
In mid-afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.52% to 17,011.88.
The broad-based S&P 500 declined 0.42% to 1,969.82, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 0.36% to 4,416.22.
Shares in Julius Baer ended up 8.34% after the Zurich-based bank said it expected to strike a deal with US authorities over a tax evasion investigation by the end of the year.
Tesco shares gained 1.28% after the struggling British supermarket announced its chief executive would be replaced Unilever director and turnaround specialist Dave Lewis in October.
Anglo American shares climbed 0.55% after the miner announced its platinum division would it would offload some of its South African mines after a debilitating five-month wage strike.
The European single currency was flat from $1.3524 late in New York on Friday.
The British pound slipped to $1.7060 from $1.7088 on Friday. The euro rose to 79.27 pence from 79.14 pence.
In commodity deals, gold increased to $1,311.50 per ounce from $1,307.25 on Friday.
