LONDON: European stock markets fell yesterday with attention fixed on Spain as it prepares to publish an audit of its stricken banks and as a tough budget in France dampened the mood.
The financial sector was in sharp focus also after Britain’s financial regulator ruled that the key Libor interest rate needs a “complete overhaul” in the wake of the Barclays rate-rigging scandal.
London’s FTSE 100 index of top companies was 0.65 percent lower at 5,742.07 points as Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 1.01 percent to 7,216.15 points, and the Paris CAC 40 fell by 2.46 percent to 3,354.82 points after the budget announcement. Madrid’s IBEX 35 index slumped 1.71 percent and Milan’s FTSE Mib lost 2.29 percent.
On Wall Street, in midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.54 percent lower, the S&P 500-stock index fell 0.74 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite shed 0.63 percent.
Stock markets had rebounded on Thursday as dealers brushed aside US growth data and took stock of a fresh Spanish austerity budget.
In foreign exchange trade, the euro slid to $1.2849 from $1.2911 late in New York on Thursday. Gold prices rose to $1,776 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,763 on Thursday.
AFP
