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Markets & Stocks
Europe hit by U.S. data
October 1, 1999: 1:07 p.m. ET

London racks up a 1% loss as Wall Street falls on interest rate fears
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Europe's main markets closed firmly in the red Friday as sentiment took a hit from stronger-than-anticipated U.S. economic data. London was the biggest loser as it fell 1 percent with the other main bourses off their session lows as selling pressures eased slightly on Wall Street just before they closed.
     The U.S. data sparked a mild sell-off in Europe after a relatively subdued performance for most of the session. Investors worried that mounting inflationary pressures could lead to higher U.S. interest rates. The Federal Reserves' Open Market Committee meets next Tuesday.
     The benchmark FTSE 100 index closed just short of 1 percent lower at 5,970.7, a loss of 59 points. The drop left the U.K.'s blue chip index down of 0.6 percent for the week.
     In Frankfurt, the electronic Xetra Dax recovered more than half its earlier losses to close 0.5 percent lower at 5,124.55, a fall of 25 points. The small bounce still left the German headline index down 1.2 percent over the last five trading days.
    
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     Paris blue chips also pared some of the losses from the afternoon session. The benchmark CAC 40 closed 0.9 percent lower at 4,550.57, a fall of 41 points. French blue chips suffered the mildest losses over the past week as they shed just under 10 index points.
     Zurich's SMI more than halved its earlier losses to end down just 0.4 percent, or 29 points, at 6,878.6. The main Swiss index fell 1.2 percent over the past week.
     The Dow Jones industrial average bounced slightly before the main markets closed to trade around 0.8 percent lower.
     Sentiment was clouded by strong U.S. economic indicators. The National Association of Purchasing Management's index for September reached 57.8 compared with a forecast of 54.3. Earlier personal income for August was reported to have risen by 0.5 percent against an expected 0.4 percent.
     Traders in Europe exercised extra caution ahead of next week, with both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England also meeting to review the interest rate environment.
     The FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader gauge of large European stocks, reflected the losing session across the continent as it fell 0.7 percent to 1,270.90. Transport shares were the biggest losers as the sector slumped 4.1 percent. Healthcare stocks lost 3.5 percent.
     In currency markets, the euro remained near its highest levels against the dollar in almost two months during the European trading day after hawkish comments by members of the European Central Bank and a stronger-than-expected European purchasing managers' survey.
     The single currency was up more than 3 percent from its week's low Monday at around $1.0716. In September, manufacturing in the 11-nation euro zone grew at its fastest pace in 14 months, according to the purchasing managers' survey.
     In London, transport stocks stole much of the limelight for contrasting reasons. Airports operator BAA (BAA) was by far the worst performing blue chip Friday as it plunged 17 percent after issuing a profit warning tied to the loss of duty-free sales from travelers moving among the European Union's 15 member countries.
    
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     Rail infrastructure provider Railtrack (RTK), in contrast, managed the biggest gains as it closed 3 percent higher after a broker's upgrade.
     Oil heavyweight BP Amoco (BP.A) -- the FTSE's biggest stock -- also lent some support with a rise of 2.3 percent.
     The two big telecom stocks racked up significant losses, however. Vodafone AirTouch (VOD) fell 4 percent, while British Telecommunications (BT.A) fell 2 percent.
     The U.K.'s top two food retailers suffered as the price war in the sector intensified. The No. 1 supermarket chain, Tesco (TSCO), slumped 4.6 percent while J Sainsbury (SBRY) lost 2.2 percent.
     In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom (FDTE) weighed on the index as it fell 2.3 percent amid persistent fears that private shareholders may cash in so-called loyalty shares issued by the telecom firm. Sentiment also was undermined as the battle for Internet subscribers heated up in Germany
     No. 3 telecom company Mobilcom said it will start U.S.-style, flat-rate local calls this month. Mannesmann (FMMN), the second-largest telecom company in Germany, fell 1.4 percent.
     The two big utilities, Veba (FVEB) and Viag (FVIA), which announced plans to merge Monday, continued to fall victim to profit-taking after recent strong gains. The stocks fell 2.1 and 2.6 percent, respectively.
     The biggest gainer was retailer Karstadt (FKAR) which jumped 2.9 percent after it announced a share split.
    
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     In Paris, building materials giant Lafarge (PLG) led the fallers with a loss of 4.4 percent.
     France Telecom (PFTE) also suffered, losing 2.9 percent.
     French luxury group LVMH (PMC) was down 1.6 percent a day after reports that it is mounting a joint bid for Fendi with Italian designer Prada to foil a possible takeover bid by rival Gucci.
     Pay-TV giant Canal Plus (PAN) bounced back after recent losing session to lead the gainers and finished just over 3 percent higher.
     In Zurich, Swatch Group led the fallers with a decline of 1.2 percent. At the other end of the spectrum, diversified engineering group Sulzer gained 1.7 percent. Back to top
     -- from staff and wire reports

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.