European shares on Friday slipped as investors licked their wounds after a tumultuous week, eyeing further turbulence in emerging markets and weakness in tech stocks.
The pan-European STOXX 600 on Friday fell 0.37 points, or 0.1 percent, to 381.06, near a six-week low it hit earlier in the week.
The index was down 1.2 percent from 385.86 on Aug. 10, its worst loss in seven weeks as the market reeled from a currency crisis in Turkey driving selling across emerging markets.
The Turkish lira on Friday fell about 5 percent, having enjoyed a brief recovery, after a Turkish court rejected a US Christian pastor’s appeal for release, deepening a diplomatic rift with the US and reigniting investors’ fears of a widespread emerging-market crisis.
“The consequences for European economies [from Turkey] could be more severe from a geopolitical perspective,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc analysts wrote, adding that trade and financial links with the country were relatively small.
“To declare with confidence that the worst is over for the lira, the central bank would have to act decisively ... diplomatic tension with the US would have to ease and prudent fiscal measures and structural reforms would have to be swiftly implemented,” Rabobank analysts said in a note.
Among key movers was Italy’s Atlantia SpA, up 5.7 percent after sinking in the previous session in the aftermath of the collapse of a road bridge in Genoa, Italy. Atlantia is the parent company of the toll road operator.
Dutch oil and chemical storage firm Royal Vopak NV fell 6.4 percent after reporting a bigger-than-expected drop in second-quarter profit, driving the firm to consider selling four European petroleum terminals.
Dutch speciality chemicals firm IMCD rose 4 percent and hit an all-time high after reporting strong growth in first-half profits.
The world’s biggest brick maker, Austria’s Wienerberger AG, rose another 5.2 percent one day after it reported earnings and confirmed its 2020 earnings target.
A.P. Moller-Maersk Group’s decision to spin off Maersk Drilling and distribute to its shareholders a “material part” of its remaining shares in French oil major Total SA was welcomed by investors, with shares in the Danish shipping company rising 1.8 percent.
Air France SA fell 3 percent as unions struggled to accept the appointment of its first foreign CEO, Ben Smith of Canada.
“This has already proved controversial with the French unions, but we understand he has the clear backing of the French state, which remains the largest shareholder,” Liberum Capital Ltd analysts said in a note.
Traders cited a negative note by Societe Generale SA, which has a “sell” rating on the airline, to explain the downward move.
A report that at least three consortiums have been formed to launch multibillion-euro bids for a state-owned stake in Aeroports de Paris SA boosted shares in the operator of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports up 1.2 percent to the top of France’s SBF 120 index.
The tech sector fell 0.4 percent after US firm Applied Materials Inc, the world’s largest supplier of equipment used to make chips, forecast current-quarter profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates.
European chipmakers Infineon Technologies AG, Siltronic AG, AMS AG and STMicroelectronics NV fell between 1.4 percent and 3.9 percent.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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