European markets lower on profit-taking, China declines
Equities markets in China declined significantly on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite down 8.26 percent to 3,670.4, for its biggest decline since February 28. In addition, the Shenzhen Composite fell 7.85 percent to 1,039.9. The declines in China did not seem to have too much of an impact on other Asian markets, however. While the Sensex dropped 0.51 percent in India, to 14,495.77, other markets in the region saw gains. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.62 percent to 20,729.59, while the Straits Times index in Singapore was 0.87 percent higher to 3,579.35. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.88 percent to 6,419.6. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 ended the session at 17,973.42, a gain of 0.1 percent, while the Topix index was 0.3 percent higher to 1,772.84.
European markets were lower on the session, with declines attributed to unease after the declines in China as well as to profit-taking in some sectors. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 0.23 percent lower to 1,622.11. Among continental markets, the Xetra Dax fell 0.14 percent to 7,976.79, while in Madrid the IBEX was 0.56 percent lower to 15,414.3 and the Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.69 percent to 6,125.81. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.19 percent to 6,664.1 and the FTSE 250 was 0.5 percent lower to 12,135.4.
Wall Street was also lower at midday, but analysts said the declines were no so much in reaction to the day’s losses in China as they were a response to new Commerce Department figures that showed US factory orders were up by only 0.3 percent in April, when a rise of 0.7 percent had been expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.17 percent lower to 13,644.7, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.08 percent to 2,611.95 and the S&P 500 was down 0.03 percent to 1,535.88.
Crude oil prices were higher after new strikes political and climatological concerns. Metals prices were mixed but more up than down.
The US dollar was slightly weaker in early trade in London, while the yen also lost ground.
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