May 14, 2012
 

The trading week in Europe opened with shares heading downward on the whole. Particular concern was focused on the difficulty in forming a new government in Greece and the weekend scenes of Europeans taking to the streets over economic issues. 

 



ATX index was the worst performer among major European indexes, falling 3.17%.

AEX General was down 2.38% at 298.01 and Madrid General was down 2.33% at 691.73.

      FTSE 100: down 2.1%, at 5458.18

      German DAX: down 2.11%, at 6441.15

      French CAC: down 2.22%, at 3060.28

      Swiss Market: down 1.41%, at 5871.

Across Europe, financial stocks are the biggest fallers. Miners have also suffered big losses, which reflect fears that the eurozone crisis could derail the global economy.

BNP Paribas was 3.4% lower, Societe Generale lost 3.3% and Credit Agricole fell 3.4%.

Spanish banks Banco Santander and Bankia were down 3.4% and 4.4% respectively, as they said they would set aside an extra 2.7bn euros (£2.16bn) and 2.1bn euros to meet new government requirements aimed at cleaning up the country's ailing property market.

Greek political leaders failed in their latest efforts to form a ruling coalition, raising the spectre the country may exit the euro zone and sending the common currency to a four-month low.

Adding to the negative tone, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday in an election in Germany’s most populous state, a result that could embolden the leftist opposition to step up attacks on her European austerity policies.

After fruitless talks on Sunday, Greek President Karolos Papoulias will continue discussions with the country's political leaders on Monday evening to try to form a government, a senior official said.

Also, China's central bank cut the bank's reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points to 20.0% on Saturday, freeing an estimated 400 billion yuan for lending to head off the risk of a sudden slowdown in the world's second-largest economy sending oil, copper and gold down. U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall St.
 

Market Indicators 

      The euro fell to its lowest in nearly four months at USD 1.2878

      The Australian dollar fell below parity to a five-month low, dropping as far as USD 0.9996

      US crude prices slipped 0.4% to USD 95.71, weighed down by China's slowing economy

      Brent crude eased 0.3% to USD 111.88 a barrel

      Copper fell 0.8% to USD 7,953 a tonne

      Gold succumbed to the mounting worries about the euro zone to hit $1,559.81 an ounce its lowest level in 4-1/2 months.
 

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