European stocks fall on weak results and lack of clarity on trade

10 Jan 2019 01:44 PM

European shares fell on Thursday as optimism over US-China trade talks dissipated after only limited details of progress and a series of weak earnings reports that hurt the retail and auto sectors were reported.

Germany's Dax, the most heavily traded index, fell 0.8%, while EuroStoxx 600 European index lost 0.7% and UK FTSE 100 lost 0.5%. The two-day rally ended European stocks up to a three-week high.

German OSRAM led the list of falling stocks on the Stokes index, with the company falling 7.2% after the chief executive warned of weakness in the fourth quarter of last year that exceeded expectations as demand sluggishly hit cars.

The latest impact on the weakness of the auto sector negatively affected Forsia and Valio for the automotive component industry to lose the shares of the two companies 4.7% and 3.4%, respectively, and drops Continental shares for tires 2.9%.

Italian Fiat Chrysler fell for other reasons. Sources said the company would pay more than $700 million to settle lawsuits from the US Justice Department over alleged use of illegal programs to allow diesel vehicles to emit harmful emissions above the allowable rate.

The worst performer was the auto sector, which fell 1.6%. In Britain, the market was dominated by notices from retailers such as Marks & Spencer, Tesco, B&M and Halford, with many companies presenting new signs of a challenging birthday season due to poor consumer confidence.

Halvords Motor and Bicycle was down 23.2 percent on the Financial Times 250 after a profit warning. But Tesco rose well with a 2.3% rise, leading the Financial Times 100 after the company's Christmas sales outperformed rivals by 2.2%

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