Europe open: Downbeat mood continues as shares follow US, Asia into red

The downbeat mood on European markets continued on Friday after suffering their worst quarter since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a weaker performance on Wall Street and Asia overnight hammered sentiment again.

Europe’s pan-regional Stoxx 600 index fell 0.84% in early deals, with all major bourses in the red.

Investors are fretting that aggressive measure to tackle rampant inflation will spark a recession at a time when the global economy is trying to claw its way back from the Covid pandemic.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were lower overnight with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading losses in the region, after the Bank of Japan’s quarterly business sentiment survey posted a sharp decline in the April-June period.

However, China’s manufacturing activity expanded at its sharpest rate for 13 months in June, boosted by resurgent output after the easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures.

In equity news, shares in FDJ fell 6.75% after Citigroup downgraded the French lottery company’s stock from to ‘sell’ from ‘buy’.

Swedish real estate company SBB, which gained more than 6% after publishing a 2021 cash flow statement.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti at Sharecast.com