Comments
European shares fell at the open on Wednesday, mirroring a slump in copper and oil prices after the World Bank cut its global growth forecast for this year.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of pan-European shares was down 1.3 per cent at 1,357.56 points at 0818 GMT, erasing most of its advance since the start of the week.
Oil major Total and commodity firms Glencore and Rio Tinto were the biggest drags on the index as they fell between 3 per cent and 8.8 per cent.
The World Bank had on Tuesday lowered its global growth forecast for 2015 and next year due to disappointing economic prospects in the euro zone, Japan and some major emerging economies that offset the benefit of lower oil prices.
“These growth fears are keeping markets busy and it is linked with the deflation question,’’ said Christian Gattiker, chief strategist and head of research at Bank Julius Baer.
“We have the stress in financial markets because it’s about the solvency and liquidity of oil producers.’’
A wave of stop-loss selling pushed London copper to 5-1/2 year lows on Wednesday, while Shanghai prices hit their ‘limit down’ after an oil rout slammed investment in commodities.
Shares in copper producer Antofagasta fell nearly 10 per cent.
Pharma group AstraZeneca bucked the trend, rising 1.3 per cent after its blood-thinning drug Brilinta cut hit a goal in a major clinical trial.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.