Traders work at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 closed down with a loss of 0.35% at 9,450.40 points yesterday.
AFP
London
European stock markets slid yesterday over uncertainty about global growth adding to heavy losses at the start of the week, while mining giant Glencore’s shares rebounded on assurances of solvency.
In London, the benchmark FTSE 100 index closed down 0.83% at 5,909.24 points.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 finished with a loss of 0.35% at 9,450.40 points and the Paris CAC 40 dipped 0.31% to 4,343.73 compared with Monday’s close.
“The greater macro uncertainty led by, but not exclusive to, China has really spooked investors,” James Buckley, a portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management in London, told Bloomberg News.
“The Fed doesn’t feel able to raise rates yet and there are concerns over whether Europe will be able to continue its very gradual recovery.”
In foreign exchange, the euro edged down to $1.1237 from $1.1242 late on Monday in New York, as markets awaited Friday’s key US jobs data for indications on whether the Federal Reserve will kick-start a programme of interest rate increases before the end of the year.
European stocks indices had sunk on Monday as more disappointing Chinese economic data and downbeat analyst comment weighed on the mining sector, with London-listed mining giant Glencore closing down almost 30%.
But shares in the group rebounded yesterday by as much as 20% before finishing in London up 16.95% at 80.25 pence, after Glencore assured it remained solvent.
“Our business remains operationally and financially robust—we have positive cash flow, good liquidity and absolutely no solvency issues,” the Swiss company said in a statement.
In Frankfurt Volkswagen shares plunged a further 4.13% to close at 95.20 euros.
The scandal-hit group yesterday revealed that 1.8mn of its commercial vehicles worldwide are fitted with the sophisticated software enabling them to cheat emission tests.
A company spokesman said the number is part of the 11mn vehicles worldwide that VW has said are affected by the crisis engulfing the world’s biggest carmaker.
Andreas Rees, chief economist on Germany at UniCredit Research, said it was “too early to make any reliable forecast of the macro impact of Volkswagen,” adding that “there are a couple of unknown quantities such as the pending lawsuits and how strongly consumers and policymakers will react.”
US stocks edged up higher yesterday as Wall Street sought to recover from the prior session’s rout ahead of a reading on consumer confidence.
Near mid-day trade in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at up 0.21% at 16,035.97 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.25% to 1,886.43, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.33% to 4,559.05.
Asian markets yesterday had followed the painful losses across Europe and New York the day before as fears about China’s slowing growth resurfaced, contributing to a deep sell-off in resources firms.
Tokyo was down 4.05% at the close, while Sydney shed 3.8%. Hong Kong lost 2.97% and Shanghai was 2.02% lower.
