Europe open: Markets start lower amid global growth concerns

European stocks followed the lead of their Asian counterparts at the open on Thursday, with concerns about the world’s economic health hitting investor sentiment.

The Stoxx 600 was down just over 1%, after a weaker dollar dragged Japanese equities down overnight and South Korean stocks failed to ignite after a surprise interest rate cut.

In London, the FTSE 100 was keeping its losses below the 1% mark at 0.83%, with France's CAC 40 down 0.85% and Germany's DAX losing 1.16%.

Global growth forecasts from the World Bank were also slashed on Wednesday to 2.4% for the year, down from the 2.9% estimated in January.

Investors were keeping a watchful eye on the US dollar, which has lost ground so far this week as rhetoric from the Federal Reserve pushes the prospect of an interest rate hike further down the calendar.

The greenback’s weakness has pushed up oil prices recently, though they were wobbling in early trading on Thursday with Brent crude last down 0.75% to $52.12 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate down 0.49% to $50.98.

“The flip side of this US dollar weakness has been to push the euro back up once more, and in the process keep downward pressure on European markets, as a higher euro erodes the export competitiveness of European companies,” noted CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.

ECB president Mario Draghi gave a speech during the morning at the Brussels economic forum, warning about the prospect of delaying structural reforms.

“So it is in fact in everybody's interest to act without undue delay,” he said.

“For the ECB, this means that we do not let inflation undershoot our objective for longer than is avoidable given the nature of the shocks we face.”

On the corporate front, Glencore was under pressure after it agreed to sell a near 10% stake in its agricultural arm to British Columbia Investment Corporation.

Plastics supplier Essentra was at the bottom of the Stoxx 600 pile, losing more than 27% after it issued a warning on full-year operating profit.

German power utility E.ON was also down sharply after shareholders gave the thumbs up to a plan to spin off its conventional energy business.

Major UK house builders, including Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group, were in the red after a survey from RICS suggested house prices are set to fall for the first time since 2012.

Also among the losers was Vodafone, which has agreed to combine its New Zealand business with local television operator Sky, sending its share price 4.4% lower.