PARIS (Reuters) – The main European stock markets fell slightly at the start of the session on Monday, investors leaving risky assets as uncertainties for the economy revived by protests against health restrictions in China.
In Paris, the CAC 40 lost 0.53% to 6,677.20 points around 08:40 GMT. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.5% and in Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.43%.
The EuroStoxx 50 index is down 0.38%, the FTSEurofirst 300 0.28% and the Stoxx 600 0.48%.
The latter signed its sixth consecutive week of increases on Friday with the hope that the Federal Reserve will soon slow the pace of its rate hikes.
But the start of the week is more cautious as protests this weekend in several Chinese cities against the “zero COVID” policy – an unprecedented wave of disobedience since Xi Jinping’s accession to power in 2012 – revive the concerns about the economic toll of restrictions in the world’s second-largest economy.
“The government may soon have to choose between more restrictions or more outbreaks. The current situation poses an additional risk to our economic forecast for the fourth quarter, which is below consensus,” said Hui Shan, economist at Goldman Sachs. .
The CSI 300 index lost 1.13% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong 1.57%.
The European energy sector fell 1.84% as crude oil prices neared their lowest levels for the year.
TotalEnergies sells 2.05% in Paris. Shell and BP lost 1.48% and 1.99% respectively on the London Stock Exchange.
Airbus fell 1.81% after reports that the European aircraft manufacturer could postpone deliveries of certain medium-haul aircraft.
Casino advances by 6.82%, the distribution group having announced the launch of the sale of part of its stake in the Brazilian supermarket chain Assaí to accelerate its deleveraging.
The biggest drop in the Stoxx 600, German chemical distributor Brenntag fell 8.94% after announcing that it had preliminary discussions with Univar Solutions regarding a possible takeover of the American rival.
(Laetitia Volga, editing by Kate Entringer)
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