UpdateEurope chem stocks sink as markets plunge

06 October 2008 18:06  [Source: ICIS news]

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LONDON (ICIS news)--Chemicals stocks suffered badly on Monday in the continuing financial turmoil which pushed the European markets sharply lower.

Smaller players Wacker Chemie, Rhodia and Lanxess were among the biggest losers over the day. The Wacker Chemie share price plunged 19.23% to €79.56.

Rhodia stock was down 11.55%, at €9.11 and Lanxess down 10.04%, at €16.40.

Industry giants BASF and Bayer held their own amid the turmoil with their stock falling 4.69%, to €31.70, and 3.78%, to €49.83, respectively. AkzoNobel, which at the start of this year took over paints maker ICI, was down 8.06%, at €32.18.

The European markets suffered badly as European governments tried to get to grips with the mounting banking crisis.

Germany’s DAX index closed down 8.18% while France’s CAC-40 index was down 7.4%.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index was 7.85% lower, reportedly its biggest one day fall on record.

The €50bn ($68bn) lifeline to German banking group Hypo Real Estate did little to calm investors’ nerves and national indeces slid.

Stock markets had 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 in the day, stocks in Asia had tumbled, as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 3.6% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 4.25%.

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

Crude futures fell more than $3/bbl to their lowest levels for eight months due to rising concern that the deepening credit crisis would reduce global oil demand.

($1 = €0.73)

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By: Staff Reporter
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