European shares knocked down by falls at EDF and banks

European shares fell further below last week's three-month high yesterday, as a slump in French utility EDF and weaker banking stocks, as well as worse-than-expected German business confidence figures pushed the market lower.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which hit a three-month peak last week, fell 0.6 per cent to 1,364.13 points.

Things were little better on Wall Street, which opened lower as a drop in oil prices, lacklustre quarterly earnings and an impending Federal Reserve meeting weighed on investor sentiment.

DUBLIN

The Iseq index performed better than most European indices, ending the day up 24.79 points to 6,148,11.

It was a quiet start to the week, though, with analysts reporting low volumes as investors await updates later this week from many of the Dublin market's biggest players, including CRH, Bank of Ireland, Glanbia, Kerry, FBD and Fyffes.

Kingspan was one of the key movers up 1.5 per cent to €22.05, having spent the earlier part of the day trading at about €21.70.

Bank of Ireland had something of a roller-coaster day, starting on a positive note before dipping in the early afternoon. However, it rallied to end the day up nearly 2 per cent to 26 cents, a good finish given it was under pressure towards the end of last week.

Analysts said investors were not expecting anything hugely bullish from Bank of Ireland’s interim management statement, due on Thursday, ahead of its agm, given historically low interest rates.

Hotel group Dalata was down 1.5 per cent to €4.20 on a day in which it struggled to make gains. Despite good volume, the presence of a seller caused a drag on the company's stock.

Other movers on included packaging group Smurfit Kappa, up 1 per cent to €23.72 and insurer FBD, also up 1 per cent to €6.55.

LONDON

Shares slipped the most since April 5th, falling further away from their four-month high.

The FTSE 100 Index lost 1.1 per cent at the close of trading in London and was the biggest decliner among western European markets, with 87 of its companies down.

Rio Tinto and Glencore lost more than 2.9 per cent, while Sainsbury's advanced 1.3 per cent.

EUROPE

European shares declined for a third day as energy and commodity producers slid, while investors assessed growth prospects following relatively poor German business-confidence data.

EDF dropped the most in seven weeks after announcing plans to sell about €4 billion of new shares and deepen cost cuts. It closed down 11 per cent, the most since at least 2005.

Shell lost 2.2 per cent, dragging oil companies lower as crude slid. Philips dropped 4.3 per cent after saying it is considering an initial public offering of its lighting business.

NEW YORK

US stocks slipped, with the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index continuing to retreat from a four-month high, before central bank meetings this week in the US and Japan and as investors awaited earnings reports to gauge corporate health.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent in early trading to 2,081.53, after reaching the highest since early December last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 106.94 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 17,896.81. The Nasdaq slipped 0.3 per cent after its steepest drop in two weeks on Friday following disappointing results from Microsoft and Alphabet.

Bank of America slid 1.9 per cent, while Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase decreased at least 1.2 per cent.

Gannett, publisher of USA Today, added 3.7 per cent after making an $815 million unsolicited bid for Tribune Publishing, seeking to add the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune to its newspaper portfolio.

– (Additional reporting: Reuters/Bloomberg)