adminLondon. — European shares fell yesterday after the Federal Reserve said it was considering tapering its stimulus in the coming months, while the mining sector was hit by poor global manufacturing data. London’s FTSE 100 index slid 0,16 percent to 6 670,19 points in midday deals, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 lost 0,41 percent to 9 163,98 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0,74 percent to 4 236,60 compared with Wednesday’s closing levels.
“Equities are on the decline in Europe after the Fed meeting minutes released on Wednesday indicate the central bank could taper its bond buying programme in the coming months,” said analyst Ishaq Siddiqi at traders ETX Capital.
“China’s flash PMIs declined for the first time in four months, adding to the downbeat tone.”
Fed board members felt recent economic indicators showed that the US central bank could start cutting down its US$85 billion-a-month bond-buying scheme “in coming months”, according to minutes of its October policy meeting.
They reiterated that any such move was contingent on a continued strengthening of the US economy and stressed that even if the programme was ended the bank was looking at other ways to keep short-term interest rates down.
Markets faced extra selling pressure after HSBC said overnight that growth in Chinese manufacturing activity slowed in November. — AFP.
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