European shares on Friday staged a small recovery, snapping three days of heavy losses, but stocks notched up their worst week of losses in two months amid growing worries that a US-China trade row might erupt again and slowing global economic growth.
The pan-European STOXX 600 on Friday closed up 2.94 points, or 0.9 percent, at 345.46, but near the session lows as tech losses on Wall Street weighed even as oil rallied and a tepid US jobs report tempered some expectations for fast US interest rates hikes.
That was a 3.4 percent drop from a close of 357.49 on Nov. 30.
“Volatility is high and investors are twitchy. It was been a dreadful week for European markets and today’s positive move can’t mask the previous losses,” CMC Markets UK market analyst David Madden said.
Germany’s DAX, with its large exposure to the trade war, has joined the long list of indices or stocks to fall into bear territory this year.
It was the only major bourse to close in the red on Friday, sliding 22.89 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10,788.09, dropping 4.2 percent from 11,257.24 a week earlier.
Automakers, which are most vulnerable to trade worries, were up only 0.1 percent after falling more than 4 percent during the previous session.
Oil and gas stocks led the gains after OPEC and its Russia-led allies agreed to slash oil production by more than the market had expected, even amid pressure from US President Donald Trump to reduce the price of crude.
In mergers and acquisitions news, retailer Amer Sports Oyj jumped 9 percent to the top of the STOXXE after a consortium led by China’s Anta Sports Products Ltd (安踏體育用品) launched a takeover bid valuing the Finnish company at 4.6 billion euros (US$5.24 billion).
A glimpse of optimism was provided by the market debut of Britain’s AJ Bell. The investment platform provider bucked a trend of lackluster European initial public offerings, with the shares rising more than 37.5 percent.
Germany’s Fresenius SE was the biggest loser, down 17 percent for the healthcare company’s worst performance on record after its profit warning.
Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA shares were down 8.5 percent, with both dragging the DAX down.
Spain’s Banco de Sabadell SA dipped 0.2 percent after its chairman said that the bank planned an eventual merger or sale of its TSB Bank PLC unit once it has returned the British bank to profitability.
Associated British Foods PLC shares fell 4.6 percent to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after reporting that trading at its Primark fashion chain was challenging last month.
“If Primark is struggling, what chance does the rest of the high street have?” Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson said.
London’s FTSE 100 on Friday rose 74.06 points, or 1.1 percent, to 6,778.11, but fell 2.9 percent from a close of 6,980.24 on Nov. 30.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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