German business resilience buoys eurozone shares
Eurozone stock markets scored small gains Monday buoyed by resilient German post-Brexit business sentiment, while London and Wall Street tumbled on profit-taking and the drag from another fall in oil prices. But the action was all somewhat tentative as traders awaited Japanese and US central bank meetings this week for possible hints of future monetary policy action. Frankfurt's benchmark DAX 30 index rose 0.5 percent in value after a key survey showed that Britain's vote to leave the European Union has had a limited impact on business confidence in Germany. It was the first time pollsters had taken the pulse of Europe's biggest economy since the shock outcome of Britain's June 23 referendum, and helped Paris shares add 0.2 percent. Also in the region, Turkey shares jumped 3.4 percent on a strengthening currency as the government, still reeling from an attempted military coup, said it would set up funds to boost economic growth. - Oil plunge hits London, NY - But a two percent-plus fall in crude oil prices battered shares of energy industry firms to leave London's FTSE 100 and the S&P 500 in New York both down 0.3 percent. "Rising OPEC crude oil production risks postponing the much-anticipated rebalancing of the global petroleum market," said Timothy Evans at Citi Futures, warning of a possible correction back to $35 a barrel from the current $44 range. In Italy, shares in the country's third biggest bank, BMPS, slumped more than eight percent after a new report said it would perform the worst of five Italian banks in the European stress tests to be released on Friday. In the United States, Yahoo shares tumbled 2.7 percent after Verizon announced it would buy the company's web properties for $4.8 billion. The deal will see the Yahoo News, email and other assets integrated into Verizon's recently acquired AOL unit, while Yahoo will be left as a separate investment company holding Yahoo Japan and the company's huge stake in China's Alibaba group. Verizon lost 0.4 percent. In Tokyo, Nintendo stock plunged almost 18 percent after it warned that its popular Pokemon Go smartphone game sweeping the world would not translate into bumper profits. ETX Capital analyst Neil Wilson called the warning "no great surprise." "The stock is still up around 50 percent from its pre-Pokemon Go price, which is probably a better reflection of what is still a game changer for Nintendo." - Key figures at 2100 GMT - New York - DOW: DOWN 0.4 percent at 18,493.06 (close) New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,168.48 (close) New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.1 percent at 5,097.63 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,710.13 points (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.5 percent at 10,198.24 points (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 4,388.00 points (close) EURO STOXX 50: FLAT 0.1 percent at 2,969.37 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 16,620.29 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 21,993.44 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,015.83 (close) Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0993 from $1.0976 Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3139 from $1.3112 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 105.82 yen from 106.19 yen
