European shares lower after earthquake

The Iseq index joined other markets into negative territory today as European shares fell to their lowest level in three months due to concern over the situation in Japan following Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

By 1pm the Dublin market was down 13.40 points to 2831.49. Among the main movers on the Iseq were bakery group Aryzta which was down 40 cents to €33.52 and ICG, which was up 20 cents to €17.75 after both companies announced their results.

Other notable movers included Kerry, which was down 32 cents to €26.68 and heavyweight CRH, up 13 cents to €15.31.

Elsewhere, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down 0.5 per cent at 1,116.90 points at 12pm after touching its lowest intra-day level since December 8th, 2010.

"The market is still being shaped by Japan and the fears and risks which are looming in relation to the earthquake and tsunami," Frank Schneider of Frankfurt's Alpha brokerage said.

Another trader said that equities would likely continue to be pressured until the full impact of the disaster is apparent. "And that could take days or even weeks."

Europe's insurance, utilities and luxury goods sectors were all overshadowed by earthquake and tsunami, as well as the crisis at the Japanese nuclear plant.

Reinsurers, such as Munich Re which was down 3.4 per cent, were among the biggest fallers in response to concerns over the cost of the disaster. The STOXX Europe 600 Insurance index was down 1.1 per cent.

Companies in the nuclear sector, like E.ON, RWE and French reactor-maker Areva dropped by between 8.9 and 4.6 per cent on worries of increasing safety costs. Renault fell 4.1 per cent as partner Nissan closed plants in Japan.

Renewables companies were in demand on hopes there would be a faster shift towards this sector after Japan's nuclear issues.

Traders bought SolarWorld, which jumped 14.4 per cent, and Nordex, which soared 14.6 per cent, with volumes more than double their 90-day average.

Luxury goods companies were also hit as Japan is the world's third largest luxury goods market and a big contributor to profits of Hermes, Burberry, LVMH and Richemont. These stocks were down between 2.3 and 5.1 per cent.

Across Europe, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.3 per cent, Germany's DAX was down 0.9 per cent and France's CAC 40 was down 0.3 per cent.