Europe open: Shares sharply lower on Fed minutes; Currys slumps

European shares opened sharply lower on Thursday as the US Federal Reserve minutes confirmed that last month's pause in rate hikes was temporary.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.88% in early deals with all major regional bourses lower.

"Treasury yields and the US dollar made gains after minutes from the Fed’s June meeting suggested further tightening is to come from," said Interactive Investor analyst Victoria Scholar.

"The Federal Open Market Committee minutes were largely interpreted as hawkish by the markets, even though the pace of tightening is likely to slow, and rates were left unchanged last month. The central bank said the economy faces ‘headwinds from tighter credit conditions."

In economic news, data showed German industrial orders rose significantly more than expected in May, due to large scale orders of ships, spacecraft and military vehicles.

In equity news, Ocado shares fell 3.5% after Morgan Stanley lowered its price target and estimates ahead of the UK online grocer’s first-half results. The broker said that recent share-price strength has been surprising and lowered its price target to 390p from 430p. The shares closed at 573.4p on Wednesday.

British electricals retailer Currys slumped 12% after reporting a 38% fall in full year profit and pulling its final dividend.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com