At the European exchanges, stock prices fell at the start of today’s trading, following the decline of indices on Wall Street and Asian exchanges, with the energy and mining sectors under the greatest pressure due to falling oil and metal prices.
The FTSEurofirst index of 300 leading European stocks fell by 1.3 percent this morning, to 816 points, marking its sixth decline in the last seven trading days. Around 10 a.m., the London FTSE and Paris CAC indices were down about 1 percent, while the Frankfurt DAX index was down 0.5 percent. Although OPEC announced a sharp reduction in production, the price of oil fell to approximately $37 per barrel, the lowest level since June 2004. In just the past week, oil prices have dropped by about 20 percent.
As a result, stock prices in the energy sector fell this morning. Shares of BP, StatoilHydro, BG Group, and Royal Dutch Shell decreased between 1.9 and 2.7 percent. The mining sector is also under pressure, primarily due to the drop in the futures price of copper to its lowest level in four years, as well as the decline in prices of other metals. Among the larger losers this morning is the stock of Italian UniCredit bank, which fell by 4.4 percent, following its announcement that its net profit this year could amount to only 4 billion euros, 23 percent less than previously estimated in October, if it fails to sell part of its assets. Thus, European exchanges are following the decline on Wall Street, where leading indices fell by about 2 percent yesterday, as well as on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the Nikkei index fell by 0.9 percent this morning, to 8,588 points. (H)
