European Stocks Plunge on Weak Eurozone Data
Frankfurt (Apr 5) European stocks plunged on Tuesday following weak eurozone economic data including a surprise monthly fall in German factory orders.
By late morning on mainland Europe, the DAX had slumped 2.43% to 9,583.38 in Frankfurt, with industrial companies, led by ThyssenKrupp (TYEKF) and including carmakers Daimler (DDAIF) and Volkswagen (VLKAF) , posting the largest declines. In Paris, the CAC 40 shrank 2.00% to 4,258.53. In London, the FTSE 100 was down 1.37% to 6,080.37.
S&P 500 futures declined 0.85%.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil was recently down 0.64% at $35.47 a barrel, though copper and gold posted gains.
German government data showed factory orders unexpectedly fell 1.2% in February, whereas analysts had been looking for about 0.2% growth.
Meanwhile, revised Markit Ltd. purchasing managers' data for the eurozone came in below previous estimates in March. But the Spanish services sector PMI beat forecasts, suggesting that political turmoil isn't decimating economic growth.
In London, vertically integrated greetings card retailer Card Factory was up about 2.6% after reporting 96% growth in full-year pretax profit to £83.7 million ($118.9 million) and same-store sales growth of 2.8%.
Leading steel producer ArcelorMittal (MT - Get Report) was down 6.3% in Amsterdam as it wrapped up a $3 billion rights issue.
French telecom Orange (ORAN) extended Monday's 6.2% decline and was recently down 1.8%. The company said it will pay $85 million for a minority stake in Nigeria-based Africa Internet Group. Conglomerate Bouygues (BOUYF) , whose telecom unit Orange had sought to buy before talks collapsed on Friday, was down 3.5% after slumping 13.5% on Monday.
In Frankfurt, residential real estate owner TLG Immobilien fell 2.2% after UBS analysts downgraded the stock to neutral from buy after the shares had gained 31% in the past year.
In Asia, Chinese indices bucked the mainly negative trend.
On mainland China, where markets reopened following Monday's Ching Ming, or tomb-sweeping, festival, the CSI 300 composite index closed up 1.32% at 3,264.49. In Hong Kong, which was also closed on Monday, the Hang Seng fell 1.57% to 20,177.00.
Chinese engineering group Tysan Holdings closed up 5.1% at HK$4.30 after it agreed to sell a two-thirds stake to Chinese conglomerate HNA Group forHK$4.53 per share, or HK$2.62 billion ($338 million), thus triggering a general offer. HNA Group is the acquisitive owner of Hainan Airlines.
In Sydney, the S&P ASX 200 closed down 1.42% to 4,924.39 after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates on hold.
TV network Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings closed down almost 24% after a disappointing trading update, including news of an 11% decline in TV revenue in the quarter ending March, as it pledged to slash costs.
Australia's securities regulator late on Tuesday said it had started civil legal proceedings against Westpac Banking for allegedly rigging interest rates. Westpac had closed down just under 2%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 down 2.42% at 15,732.82 and the Topix down 2.64% at 1,268.37.
Banks were among the main decliners, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group both down more than 4.%.
In Mumbai, the S&P BSE Sensex index was recently down 1.59% at 24,995.49 after the Reserve Bank of India cut the repo rate by a quarter of a point to 6.5%. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan promised policy makers would retain an "accommodative" monetary stance.
Source: TheStreet
