09/08/2001

European markets battered by US fall

Europe’s battered stock markets slid further on as further gloomy news on the US economy emerged.

Early morning trading on Thursday 9 August saw the FTSE Euro 300 slip back around 17 points hovering at 1,300.

At lunchtime the FTSE had slipped deeply into the red down 71 points to 5,405, and is well on the way to reaching the July low of 5,300 points.

Profits warnings from technology, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals companies were threatening to drag down shares in across the board, even dragging down other sector stalwarts such as banking giant HSBC who have reported healthy figures.

However, few companies managed too buck the trend. Reid Elsevier, despite worries over falling media advertising revenues, posted strong half-year figures and saw shares climb. As did engineering company GKN who had ridden out a downturn in the automotive sector to report half-year figures that were inside predictions.

Analysts have begun to speculate that the economy-wide worries are adding to investors’ concerns about weak performances in sectors where debt-ridden technology and telecommunications companies are damaging confidence in the markets.

While technology shares were plummeting, BT were leading the fall in the communication sector on the FTSE.

Share prices were further undermined by the US Federal Reserve’s “beige book” economic report that stoked fears that the US economy was performing less well than had been thought previously. (SP)

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