By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European markets fell sharply Friday,
ensuring weekly losses as investors backtracked from global stocks
on valuation concerns.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1.6% to 328.05, and was set for 3.3%
drop on a weekly basis, the first such decline since the week ended
March 14.
In line with much of this week's pattern, European stocks on
Friday fell in the wake of selloffs in Asia and on Wall Street. The
Nikkei 225 closed down 2.4%, its lowest level this year, while the
Nasdaq Composite (RIXF)fell 3.1% as tech and biotech stocks
extended their pullbacks. The Nasdaq extended losses on Friday.
Among European tech names, shares of ARM Holdings PLC slumped by
4.9%, Logitech International SA gave up 3.9%, and Infineon
Technologies AG was down 3%.
The direction European equities go will soon be a "reflection of
what the S&P [500 index] does next," and the U.S. equity index
has "outperformed by quite some distance an awful lot of the other
European benchmarks over the past four to five years," said Michael
Hewson, market analyst at CMC Markets, in a telephone interview.
"That to me means that the scope for a correction is greater in the
S&P and there will be an inevitable spillover effect into
European markets."
Hewson said he's "not 100% convinced" that a spillover will drag
European benchmarks below their lows of this year and stoke a
sustained sell off in European equities. "But what I do think we
need to see is a shakeout in the S&P 500," he said.
The S&P 500 (SPX) fell Friday, with pressure coming in part
from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) after the bank's quarterly
profit missed analyst expectations.
Leading decliners on the Stoxx 600 were Norwegian companies Aker
Solutions ASA and Orkla ASA , falling 8% and 6.9%, respectively, as
shares of the oil and gas industry services provider and the
conglomerate each traded without dividend rights. Also hit hard,
Thales SA shares slid 4% after J.P. Morgan cut its rating on the
French defense-electronics group to neutral from overweight.
U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 1.3% to 6,553.45, with only a handful the
index's components moving higher, including a 1.6% rise for Wm.
Morrison Supermarkets PLC .
Germany's DAX 30 dropped 1.5% to 9,311.33, and France's CAC 40
fell 1.7% to 4,340.86.
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