Europe chems stocks fall as UK GDP shrinks in Q3

24 October 2008 11:07  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European chemicals stocks traded at heavy losses on Friday amid fears of recession, as the UK economy shrank 0.5% between July and September - its first quarterly decline for 16 years.

At 8:46 GMT, London’s FTSE 100 index fell 5.8% in early trading, while Germany’s Dax index was 7.1% lower than Thursday’s close.

The Dow Jones Eurostoxx chemicals index dropped by 5.8% from Thursday’s close, with chemicals shares losing an average of 32% over the last month.

Europe’s largest producer BASF’s stock fell 5.3% to €22.20 ($28.46), while chemicals and life sciences major Bayer down 6.3% at €40.46.

Dutch coatings giant Akzo Nobel’s shares fell 5.9% to €26, while Norwegian fertilizer producer Yara took a much larger hit, falling 9.2% to Norwegian kroner (NKr) 108.5.

The latest UK economic statistics confirmed the country is on the brink of recession, with many of Europe’s major economies, including Germany, thought to be in a similar state.

Economic output in the UK fell by 0.5% amid fears of a global slowdown and huge volatility on world share markets. It will be classed as being in recession if the economy slows in the fourth quarter as well.

Earlier, Japan’s stocks continued a downtrend, with the key Nikkei 225 Average index plummeting 9.6% below 8,000 points to hit a new five-year low.

($1 = €0.78)

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By: Mark Watts
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