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PARIS / LONDON (dpa-AFX) – Europe’s most important stock markets fell after the previous day’s rally on Wednesday. With that, the hope of an early solution to the Ukraine war faded again. The EuroStoxx 50 (EURO STOXX 50) lost 0.88 percent to 3967.11 points around midday.
The French CAC 40 fell by 0.84 percent to 6735.78 points, the British FTSE 100 came off better with 0.16 percent plus to 7549.11 points.
The euphoria of the previous day about possible progress towards a solution to the Ukraine conflict gave way to a more realistic assessment with the current losses. “As long as no contracts have been signed by Russia and the Ukraine, the topic should continue to cause high fluctuations,” warned market expert Andreas Lipkow from Comdirect.
In addition, the recent recovery covered the deteriorated situation on the stock markets. “There are still major risks due to the high cost of raw materials and the weakening economy in Europe,” says Lipkow. “The mixed situation has clouded over in the last few weeks of trading and is currently not being fully noticed by market participants.”
As so often in the past few weeks, the change of sign in the indices brought with it a change of favourites. The auto stocks that were still sought after the day before fell far behind the sectors, while oil stocks posted gains. With the sharp drop in prices of more than ten percent this week, the prospects that Opec+ will decide on a stronger increase in production at their meeting tomorrow have become even smaller, commented analyst Carsten Fritsch from Commerzbank on the development of oil prices. “Because the group should feel confirmed in its view that the rise in oil prices was mainly driven up by geopolitical risks and not by an actual supply shortage.”
Commodity stocks also rose. Industrial metals, which were able to reduce their initial losses the previous day, continued to recover, as analyst Daniel Briesemann from Commerzbank explained. The defensive sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food producers and telecommunications fared comparatively well.
Roche shares (Roche) swerved with slight losses. The pharmaceutical company had suffered a setback with its novel cancer drug tiragolumab.
Bank stocks, on the other hand, were under pressure despite good news. The major Swiss bank UBS has launched a new share buyback program after last year’s jump in profits. The institute wants to acquire its own shares worth up to six billion US dollars (around 5.4 billion euros). But that didn’t come as a surprise.
Capital market strategist Jrgen Molnar from broker RoboMarktes was impressed by the scope of the program: “On the one hand, the company is in full financial power and, on the other hand, this suggests that the management expects the share price to continue to rise.” Although UBS lost 0.5 percent, it held up much better than BNP or Credit Suisse (Credit Suisse (CS)), which lost around two percent.
Among the smaller stocks, the Zur Rose Group climbed 3.5 percent. Analyst Volker Bosse from Baader Bank had massively lowered his price target for the online drug provider from 300 to 140 francs, but considers the current valuation to be comparatively cheap.
In London, on the other hand, Pearson came under pressure. The report that the holding company Apollo did not want to bid for the media group charged./mf/mis