Europe: Shares start week on weaker note

[MILAN] European shares inched lower in early deals on Monday with most sectors moving in the red and Julius Baer leading losers after the unexpected resignation of its chief executive.

Shares in the Swiss private bank declined 4.9 per cent after news that Boris Collardi was resigning with immediate effect to take a post at rival Pictet Group in Geneva.

Its decline, along with weakness in the heavyweight financials and materials sectors, helped drag the pan-European STOXX 600 index down 0.3 per cent by 0807 GMT.

The German DAX benchmark fell 0.3 per cent after leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party agreed to pursue a "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats (SPD) to break the political deadlock, while the Britain's top share FTSE index fell 0.2 per cent.

Among top movers on the STOXX were also shares in Belgian supermarket firm Colruyt, down 4.1 per cent after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the stock, while French tech company Ingenico, up 2 per cent, was supported by a Morgan Stanley upgrade to equal-weight.

The STOXX 600 benchmark is down more than 2 per cent so far in November as investors have been taking profit following this year's strong rally, shrugging off continued strength in macroeconomic data.

REUTERS