Markets across Europe down on Libya woes

Eurostoxx 50: 2,954.92 (–28.41) Frankfurt DAX: 7,194.60 (–123.75) Paris CAC: 4,013.12 (–37.15)THE STOXX Europe 600 Index fell for a fourth day yesterday, its longest losing streak since October, as Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy vowed to fight a rebellion.

The Stoxx 600 fell 1.1 per cent to 282.38 at the close in London, as all 19 industry groups retreated.

It peaked at the highest level since August 2008 last week. As Col Gadafy vowed to fight the uprising, parts of the capital of Tripoli resembled a war zone and some of his followers and troops defected to the opposition.

“I’m a little more concerned than I was” days ago, Richard Lacaille, who oversees $2 trillion as chief investment officer at State Street Global Advisors in London, told Bloomberg television’s On the Move with Francine Lacqua. “This is a vindication of a long-term strategy. You can ride out the bumps.”

Air France slipped 1.4 per cent to €11.62. Crude for April delivery gained as much as 97 cents to $96.39 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

OMV sank 5.8 per cent to €30.08. The stock declined after chief executive officer Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said he expected “production will come to a standstill for a certain period of time for safety reasons” in Libya and fourth-quarter profit missed analysts’ estimates.

Cable and Wireless Communications, which split from its parent company in March 2010, surged 6.2 per cent to 49.33p.

European car-makers posted the worst performance among 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600, led by declines in BMW and Daimler. The world’s biggest makers of luxury cars retreated 3.5 per cent to €58.30 and 3.3 per cent to €51.29 respectively.

Accor dropped 3.7 per cent to €33.91, even as Europe’s biggest hotel company reported full-year earnings before interest and taxes of €446 million, compared with €235 million a year earlier.

Natixis climbed 4.3 per cent to €4.30. The investment-banking and asset-management unit of France’s second-largest bank by branches said fourth-quarter profit fell 48 per cent to €442 million on lower revenue and after it did not repeat tax gains.

MTU Aero Engines Holding, the German partner in a group building engines for Airbus SAS’s A400M military-transport aircraft, slid 4.2 per cent to €48.26. – (Bloomberg)