Europe midday: Shares stay in red amid UK turmoil, weak telecoms
European shares were still lower at midday on Thursday, as the UK government spiralled into even greater chaos, while telecom heavyweights Ericsson and Nokia after quarterly earnings missed estimates.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down 0.22% in early deals. France’s CAC-40 outperformed with a 0.36% rise.
Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.16% as the political chaos that has come to characterise the infant government of Prime Minister Lizz Truss reached new heights of farce last night.
Hard-right interior minister Suella Braverman was sacked after being caught sending an official document to a colleague via her personal email, although it was reported that she clashed with Truss over the prime minister's allegedly softer approach to the number of asylum seekers entering Britain.
There were also chaotic scenes in parliament in the evening during a manifesto-busting vote to allow fracking that had been described initially, then denied, by Conservative Party whips - or enforcers - as a vote of confidence in the government.
It was been alleged by the opposition Labour Party that Conservative MPs were manhandled into the government lobby against their wishes, amid claims the chief and deputy whips had themselves quit – only for this to be denied later.
Only hours earlier, Truss insisted that she would stay in post, telling lawmakers: “I am a fighter, not a quitter.”
In the relatively benign world of equity news, shares in telecoms giant Ericsson fell 14% after weaker-than-expected earnings.
Rival Nokia fell 14% after the Finnish telecom equipment maker's quarterly operating profit missed analysts' expectations. Meanwhile Nordic Semiconductor slumped after a downbeat earnings report.
Luxury goods maker Hermes gained after the company saw sharp rise in sales growth with no signs of a slowdown and Swedish Match rose after Philip Morris International raised its buyout offer for the nicotine products maker.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com