Europe chemical stocks fall on concerns Greece debt deal will fail

10 February 2012 11:34  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS)--European chemical stocks fell on Friday, in line with financial markets, amid investor concerns that plans to solve the Greek debt crisis could fail.

At 10:53 GMT, the UK’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.34% lower than the previous close, Germany’s DAX had fallen by 0.87%, and the CAC 40 in France was down by 0.73%.

With European indices trading lower, the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx Chemicals index was down by 0.94%, as shares in many of Germany’s major chemical companies fell from the previous close.

Petrochemical major BASF’s shares had fallen by 1.51%, while chemical company Bayer’s shares were trading down by 1.07%,

Shares in fertilizer producer K+S were trading down by 1.79%, while Wacker Chemie was trading 3.85% lower.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos of Greece reached an agreement with three coalition party leaders on new austerity measures required to secure further bailout funds, despite a reform of the pension system being a stumbling block.

However, eurozone finance ministers later set out some additional painful measures Greece must accept in order to receive further bailout funds of around €130bn ($173bn) the country needs to avoid defaulting.

They demanded the Greek parliament ratify all cuts and reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU by 12 February and also for Athens to find an additional €325m in budget cuts by 15 February.

Eurozone finance ministers also asked for guarantees that the deal would be implemented.

Greek politicians remain deeply concerned over the severity of the austerity measures required, while Greek unions opposed to the proposed cuts have already called a 48-hour strike, beginning on Friday.

($1 = €0.75)

By: Franco Capaldo
+44 (0)20 8652 3214

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