Europe: Shares slip on tech, banks drag; clocks weekly gains

EUROPEAN shares closed lower on Friday (Jun 21), pressured by falls in technology and bank stocks, while Danish brewer Carlsberg Group was the day’s worst performer after British soft drinks maker Britvic rejected its revised takeover proposal.

The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 ended 0.7 per cent lower, with the technology sub-index losing around 1.3 per cent and eurozone banks sliding 1.7 per cent.

Carlsberg Group dropped 9.3 per cent after Britvic rejected its US$3.93 billion takeover bid, saying that the proposal “significantly undervalued” the group and its prospects. Britvic jumped 7.7 per cent.

Still, the European benchmark recorded a weekly gain of 0.8 per cent as the market focused on Swiss and British central bank decisions in the week, recovering from last week’s drop after French President Emmanuel Macron called a snap parliamentary election.

“We are gingerly recovering, but the volatility will remain with regard to the French elections going forward until the first date of the election,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG Group.

The French benchmark CAC 40 index recorded a gain of 1.7 per cent for the week.

On the data front, France’s services sector contracted more than expected in June, while a broader eurozone reading showed that business growth in the bloc slowed sharply this month as demand fell for the first time since February.

“It is possible that at least French consumers will be happier with the election result and the fiscal promises than businesses, and continue to spend,” Citigroup strategists said.

“However, if growth slows materially, chances of more and faster ECB rate cuts would rise.”

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An upturn in business activity in Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, also slowed in June, data showed.

Government bond yields across the continent slipped after the data release.

Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 slipped 0.4 per cent, as a hot domestic retail sales reading stoked concerns that interest rates would stay elevated for longer.

Global investors remained risk-averse as US equities traded in the red, as a rally in chipmaking giant Nvidia appeared to fizzle out.

Among other stocks, Denmark’s Zealand Pharma jumped nearly 19 per cent after an early-stage study showed a high dose of its drug helped reduce weight by an average of 8.6 per cent after 16 weekly doses.

British discount chain B&M fell 1.7 per cent after Morgan Stanley lowered its rating to “underweight” from “equal-weight”.

Shares in ABB shed 2.8 per cent after Deutsche Bank downgraded the Swiss engineering group to “sell”. REUTERS