UpdateEurope stocks continue to take losses

06 October 2008 16:12  [Source: ICIS news]

(Releads and updates throughout)

 

LONDON (ICIS news)--European stocks continued to plummet on Monday as concerns about the global banking system spread across markets.

 

The €50bn ($68bn) lifeline to German banking group Hypo Real Estate did little to calm investors’ nerves as the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 dropped 6.72% (14:18 GMT) lower than last week's close.

 

National indexes continued to slide after losses in early trading, with London’s FTSE 100 dropping 6.48% and Germany’s Dax index down 6.60%.

 

Among Europe’s largest chemical stocks, Germany’s BASF fell 4.75% to €31.68. Bayer was down 4.98% to €49.21, while Dutch coatings firm Akzo Nobel saw large losses throughout the day, losing 6.40% to €32.76.

 

Stocks for German solar chemicals producer Wacker Chemie suffered one of the largest losses, plunging 19.19% to €79.60.

 

Stock markets opened after Hypo Real Estate secured a crucial €50bn credit line from the German government and private finance, the latest in a series of government-led bailouts of financial institutions in Europe.

 

Germany's government has also announced an apparent 100% guarantee for all private bank deposits, the details of which have yet to be outlined.

 

French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Saturday called for a global summit to be held to implement “a real and complete reform of the international financial system”.

 

Earlier, stocks in Asia also tumbled, as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 4.25%.

 

US stocks also dropped, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping below 10,000 for the first time in four years.

 

Meanwhile, crude futures fell more than $3/bbl to their lowest levels for eight months on Monday due to rising concern that the deepening credit crisis will reduce global oil demand.

  

($1 = €0.73)

 

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By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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