LONDON: Europe’s main stock markets mostly slid yesterday, with persistent concerns over the US “fiscal cliff” offsetting the German parliament’s approval of the latest instalment of aid for Greece.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies slid 0.06 percent to 5,866.82 points and in Paris the CAC 40 dropped 0.33 percent to 3,557.28 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 managed to eke out a 0.06 percent gain to 7,405.5 points, while
In Madrid, the Ibex 35 index fell 0.49 percent to 7,934.6 points with shares in bailed-out Bankia plunging by over 25 percent amid concerns over its restructuring.
The European single currency rallied to a one-week high at $1.3028, boosted by the German approval, before pulling back to $1.3006, up from $1.2978 late in New York on Thursday. Gold prices firmed to $1,726 per ounce on the London Bullion Market, compared with $1,725 on Thursday.
“Germany’s Bundestag approved Greece’s latest rescue deal with a majority, bolstering the tone somewhat...” said Ishaq Siddiqi, analyst at ETX Capital trading group.
Germany’s parliament overwhelmingly approved billions of euros in international aid for Greece, handing a much-needed financial boost to Athens as it battles against bankruptcy. Deputies voted by 473 to 100 to give the green light to the release of ¤43.7bn ($56.9bn) in aid to debt-wracked Greece agreed after torturous talks between eurozone finance ministers. There were 11 abstentions.
In company news, shares in Metro slipped 0.28 percent to ¤21.53 after the German retailer agreed to sell the eastern European operations of its Real supermarket unit to French rival Auchan for ¤1.1bn ($1.4bn).
Metro said in a statement it had signed an agreement with the French retailer to “take over the operational activities and real estate assets of Real in Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.” The deal covers 91 hypermarkets in the four countries, where Real generated sales of ¤2.6bn in 2011 and employs a workforce of 20,000.
In London, Royal Bank of Scotland shares slid 1.27 percent to 295.20 pence after the state-rescued lender announced that the sale of its Indian retail and commercial activities to HSBC had lapsed.
RBS, which is 81 percent owned by the taxpayer after a vast bailout, added that it would seek to wind down the Indian operations.
Asian markets mostly climbed. Tokyo closed 0.48 percent higher, Sydney ended up 0.63 percent, but Seoul finished 0.10 percent lower. Hong Kong closed 0.49 percent higher while Shanghai was up 0.85 percent.
In the United States, investors were increasingly nervous about the approaching fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax rises, which will be triggered on January 1 unless a cross-party deal is brokered.
“With a month to go before the United States is due to topple over the fiscal cliff -- $650bn of spending cuts and tax hikes promising a return to recession—the onus is on the politicians to move the debate on and come up with a deal,” said ING bank economist James Knightley.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.15 percent to 13,002.43 points. The S&P 500 slid 0.15 percent to 1,413.84 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.28 percent at 3,003.71 points.
AFP
