No Fed boost for European stocks as banks fall; chipmakers shine

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
No Fed boost for European stocks as banks fall; chipmakers shine
Credit: © Reuters.

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March 21 (Reuters) - European stock markets opened lower on Thursday, as the impact on banks of an accommodative policy message from the U.S. Federal Reserve outweighed any broader lift to sentiment from its abandoning of further interest rate hikes this year.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX dipped 0.3 percent, driven by falls in Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt that contrasted with a strong reaction on Asian markets to the Fed's statement and news conference.

Germany's DAX .GDAXI led with a 0.5 percent fall, weakened by a 1 percent loss for bank stocks .SX7P , which tend to suffer when expectations for future interest rates fall.

Banking shares across Europe had also risen earlier this week on signs of a merger between Deutsche Bank (DE: DBKGn ) and Commerzbank (DE: CBKG ).

A bright spot were semiconductor makers, boosted by Micron Technology's MU.O upbeat outlook for the sector, which soothed worries about falling demand for smartphones. Infineon IFXGn.DE and STMicro STM.PA STM.MI were both up 2 percent.

EssilorLuxottica's ESLX.PA shares slumped to the bottom of the CAC 40 and the STOXX 600 on new tensions in its boardroom as the top shareholder and executive chairman accused the Franco-Italian group's executive vice chairman of a power grab. punished HeidelbergCement HEIG.DE , the world's second-largest cement maker, after its results and Swedish construction group Skanska SKAb.ST fell 3.2 percent after it said it would not reach a target for operating margins. FTSE 100 .FTSE index was the only index to buck the trend, gaining 0.3 percent as miners .FTNMX1770 benefited from higher copper prices on the back of a weaker dollar.

The market's internationally-focussed blue chip stocks also tend to gain on falls for sterling GBP= , which was suffering again from Britain's failure to find a clear route out of the European Union before a March 29 deadline.

Among its midcaps, a profit warning from British precision engineering group Renishaw Plc RSW.L due to a slowdown in Asia drove its shares 14 percent lower.

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