Europe: Stocks tumble on trade war blows

[BENGALURU] Technology stocks led a tumble in European equities in early deals on Monday as investors fled from riskier assets after another exchange of blows by the United States and China over trade at the end of last week.

US President Donald Trump on Friday hit back at a new round of Chinese tariffs by heaping an additional 5 per cent duty on some US$550 billion in targeted Chinese goods and demanded that US companies move their operations out of China.

However, Mr Trump appeared on Sunday to back off on his threat to order US companies out of China.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.51 per cent by 0710 GMT, with trading volumes thinned out by a UK holiday.

Declines in markets were broad-based, but technology companies, the most exposed to tariffs, were the biggest losers with a 1.02 per cent fall in the sectoral index.

German real estate stocks came under pressure after a report that Berlin's city government planned to cap rents. Deutsche Wohnen slid 3.8 per cent, while Vonovia fell 1 per cent.

REUTERS