European ended sharply lower on Monday as rising worries about a rapid surge in a new variant of the coronavirus in the U.K. and tighter lockdown measures rendered the mood bearish in European markets.
A lack of progress in Brexit talks hurt as well.
In virus news, a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain shut down much of the United Kingdom and disrupted international freight.
More than 16 million Britons are now required to stay at home as a full lockdown came into force in London and the southeast of England.
The new variant of the virus, which is thought to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original strain of the disease, has reportedly been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia.
On the Brexit front, a deadlock of fishing rights in Britain's waters continued to stall negotiations about a trade deal.
The pan European Stoxx 600 tumbled 2.33%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slid 1.73%, Germany's DAX plunged 2.82% and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 2.43%. Switzerland's SMI lost 2.07%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden lost 2 to 4%.
Denmark, Iceland, Ireland and Turkey also ended notably lower.
Travel-related stocks were among the worst hit as Canada as well as European countries, including Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, ordered a suspension of flights from Britain.
In the UK market, IAG shares plunged nearly 8%. Royal Dutch Shell lost 5.6% after the company said it will write down $3.5 to $4.5 billion in the value of oil and gas assets in 2021.
BP, Legal & General, Avast, Lloyds Banking Group, Aviva, Evraz and Rolls-Royce Holdings lost 3 to 5%. Shares of telecommunications firm Vodafone Group lost more than 3% after the company said it has ended talks to sell its Egyptian business to Saudi Telecom Co.
Ocado Group shares rallied 5.6%. Fresnillo gained 2.3%, while Just Eat Takeaway and Reckitt Benckiser gained 1.9% and 1.2%, respectively.
In the German market, Wirecard tumbled nearly 11%. Bayer, Fresenius, Deutsche Bank, Lufthansa, Munich RE, Infineon Technologies, Daimler, Siemens, Deutsche Post, Allianz, Fresenius Medical Care, BMW, Volkswagen, SAP Heidelbergement lost 2.5 to 4.7%.
In France, Unibail Rodamco shares ended about 5% down after the company said it reached separate agreements with several French institutional investors to sell the Village 3 office building and the Village 4 & Village 6 office buildings for the total net disposal price of 213 million euros.
Societe Generale, Unibail Rodamco, Technip, Vinci, BNP Paribas, Total, Credit Agricole, Bouygues, Danone, STMicroElectronics, Renault, Airbus Group and Sodexo lost 2.5 to 5.2%.
In economic news, Euro area consumer confidence rose more than expected in December after weakening in the previous two months, preliminary data from the European Commission showed.
The flash consumer confidence index climbed to -13.9 from -17.6 in November. Economists had forecast a score of -16.8.
The Eurozone indicator is now back at its September level of -13.9. The corresponding index for the EU rose to -15.3 this month from -18.7 in November.
According to the latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey data from the Confederation of British Industry, UK retailers expect sales to fall at the start of the year after broadly stabilizing in December.
The retail sales balance fell to -3% in December from -25% in November. However, a net 33% expects sales to fall in the year to January.
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