Equities retreat in face of weak economic data

Stock markets fell in Europe and Asia today as concern deepened that a prolonged recession will restrict earnings.

Stock markets fell in Europe and Asia today as concern deepened that a prolonged recession will restrict earnings.

In Dublin at 8.51am the Iseq index of Irish shares was down 2.7 per cent as banking stocks came under renewed pressure. Anglo Irish Bank was 8 per cent lower at 78 cents, Irish Life and Permanent was over 10 per cent lower at €1.51 with Bank of Ireland over 11 per cent lower at €1.26.

In Britain the FTSE 100 was down almost 2 per cent today extending the previous session's sharp losses as the bleak economic outlook hit commodity stocks and banks. Tesco soared after its trading update.

By 8.31am, the FTSE 100 was at 3,983.78, falling through the 4,000 level once again. The UK benchmark slid 5.2 per cent yesterday and is down more than 38 per cent for the year on fears of a deep global recession.

Germany's Dax was 1 per cent lower while the CAC40 in Paris was 1.6 per cent lower.

In Europe, Deutsche Bank AG, Germany's largest bank by assets, and Credit Suisse Group AG declined more than 5 per cent. Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-biggest mining company, sank 8.2 per cent after copper slipped for the fourth day.

The UK's BG Group and Inpex of Japan decreased at least 4 per cent as crude slumped to the lowest in more than three years.

"It will be a very bad recession" Jane Coffey, head of equities at Royal London Asset Management Ltd. which has about $10.5 billion, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

"At some point next year there will be a great opportunity to get into equities. It is not quite yet." The MSCI World Index lost 1.4 per cent to 819.14, extending yesterday's 7 per cent drop, at 8.31am in London.

Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index declined 2.1 per cent, while the MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 4.2 per cent.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures added less than 0.1 per cent. The gauge slipped 8.9 per cent yesterday, as financial shares tumbled a record 17 per cent, amid growing concern consumers' access to credit is shrinking.

The US economy entered a recession last December, the panel at the National Bureau of Economic Research that dates American business cycles said yesterday.

Europe's economy fell into its first recession in 15 years in the third quarter as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression raised eroded confidence.

Agencies