Banks drove European shares down for a fourth day today as US data did little to dispel concern over the potential for US recession, while HSBC rallied after turning a profit last year.
US manufacturing data showed factory activity contracted last month, although not by as much as originally feared, which helped equities recover some of the day's losses. London's FTSE closed 1% lower at 5,819 this evening, while the Paris CAC dropped 1% to end at 4,743 and the Frankfurt DAX finished 0.9% lower at 6,690.
Dublin's ISEQ index closed 124 points, or 1.9%, lower at 6,291 with the financial stocks all weaker. Building and construction related stocks also took a hammering today after Kingspan warned on the outlook for the industry over the next couple of years. Its shares closed over 5% weaker at €8.50 this evening while Grafton was down 5.4% to €5.08. Ahead of its annual results tomorrow, CRH shares slumped 3.5% to end at €23.70.
US stocks extended their losses from last week amid rising worries about inflation and recession in the world's biggest economy. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was down 21 points to stand at 12,246 while the Nasdaq had lost six points to stand at 2,265.
Earlier, Japanese stocks plunged by almost 4.5%, ending below the key 13,000 points level for the first time in over a month. Dealers blamed a stronger yen and US recession fears. The main Nikkei-225 index tumbled 611 points to end at 12,992.
