European stocks drop further

Dunya News

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.76 percent to 6,572.21 points in late morning deals.

LONDON (AFP) - Europe s main stock markets retreated on Tuesday after the previous day s slump, as Ukraine-Russia tensions offset robust British manufacturing data.

London s benchmark FTSE 100 index dropped 0.76 percent to 6,572.21 points in late morning deals.

In Paris, the CAC 40 index lost 0.51 percent to 4,413.36 points and Frankfurt s DAX 30 shed 0.62 percent to stand at 9,452.11 compared with Monday s closing values.

European equities were "pressured by fresh geopolitical drama together with declines on Wall Street overnight where tech stocks continued their descent amid worries about inflated valuations", said Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX Capital traders.

European tech companies though rebounded from heavy losses on Monday, with British group ARM Holdings up 0.38 percent to 976.18 pence.

Elsewhere, "markets again are on edge as this fresh escalation of the (Ukraine) crisis could see further turbulence in financial markets", said Siddiqi.

Russia warned Kiev on Tuesday that any use of force in Ukraine s east, where pro-Kremlin militants have seized government buildings in several cities, could tip the country into civil war.

In Paris, shares in construction, media and telecoms group Bouygues rose by 2.76 percent to 29.8 euros on a newspaper report that the company was in talks to sell its telecom arm to to low-cost upstart Free, asking 8.0 billion Euros ($11 billion), after failing to buy SFR at the weekend.

European leading stock markets had tumbled on Monday as investors fretted over the global technology sector, the US interest rate outlook and fresh unrest in Ukraine, dealers said. Frankfurt shed 1.91 percent on the week s first day of trading.

In foreign exchange deals, the British pound was boosted after official data showed that industrial output across Britain rose by a robust 0.9 percent in February compared with activity in January, cementing the country s economic recovery.

The European single currency dropped to 82.37 British pence from 82.75 pence on Monday, while the pound climbed to $1.6711 from $1.6603.

The euro climbed to $1.3766 from $1.3740 late on Monday in New York. The dollar fell to 102.56 yen from 103.09.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold increased to $1,313.98 an ounce from $1,299 on Monday.

Asian stock markets closed mixed on Tuesday following another heavy sell-off on Wall Street, with technology stocks taking a beating, while a stronger yen added to downward pressure on Japan s Nikkei, traders said.

All three main indices in New York suffered a third session of losses in a row on Monday as big-name tech firms, which had helped last year s rally, were sold off on concerns they are overvalued.

Among the big US losers on Monday were Apple, Yahoo, Google and LinkedIn.