Weaker retailers drag on European equities

Eurostoxx 50: 2,774.50 (+9.17) Frankfurt DAX: 7,103.25 (+18.68) Paris CAC: 3,871.92 (+8.52)MOST EUROPEAN stocks fell yesterday, with the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 Index trading near a 10-week low, as losses in retail shares offset gains in utility companies.

The Stoxx 600 slid 0.1 per cent at the close in London as four shares retreated for every three that advanced.

National benchmark indexes declined in 10 of the 18 western European markets yesterday.

“Investors have probably overestimated risk in the last few days,” said Matthias Jasper, the head of equities at WGZ Bank in Dusseldorf.

“The overall picture for equities is still good, though we can expect more volatility in the coming weeks,” he said.

Tesco, the world’s third-biggest retailer by sales, slipped 1.3 per cent to 412p.

Home Retail, the owner of British store chains Homebase and Argos, lost 1.6 per cent to 208.5p.

UK retail sales fell in May as consumers’ uncertainty about their jobs and incomes increased, the British Retail Consortium said.

Clariant lost 2.3 per cent to 18.42 Swiss francs after chief executive Hariolf Kottmann vowed to make acquisitions to push annual sales beyond 10 billion francs ($11.9 billion) by 2015, and margins of more than 17 per cent.

EON and RWE, Germany’s biggest electricity companies, led gains in utilities. The stocks jumped 3.2 per cent to €19 and 2.2 per cent to €38.70, respectively.

Mitchells and Butlers jumped 3.8 per cent to 331.9p, the biggest advance in four months.

Sky Deutschland rose 3.4 per cent to €3.38 as Goldman Sachs upgraded the pay-TV operator.

Infineon Technologies rose 1.4 per cent to €7.89 as chief executive Peter Bauer said Europe’s second-biggest chipmaker will increase its sales by more than 10 per cent a year in the long term.

Renewable Energy surged 5.6 per cent to 12.17 kroner as Morgan Stanley upgraded the maker of solar-energy wafers, cells and modules.

Stora Enso Oyj, Europe’s biggest paper maker, gained 2.2 per cent to €7.30.

Alstom advanced 1.5 per cent to €41.93 after signing a €500 million contract to build a power plant in Israel for Dalia Power Energies. – (Bloomberg)