European shares slid in thin summer trading on Friday, as travel stocks slumped after Britain added more countries to its quarantine list, while weak data from across the globe raised doubts over the pace of economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.2 percent to 368.07, with travel and leisure stocks down 2.3 percent to lead sectoral losses.
UK-based airlines and tour operators TUI, EasyJet and British Airways-owner International Airlines Group fell between 4.8 percent and 8.4 percent after the British government said that it would impose a 14-day quarantine on arrivals from France, beginning on Saturday.
It also added the Netherlands, Malta and three other countries to the list.
France, the second-most popular overseas destination after Spain for Britons, said that it would reciprocate.
Paris-listed shares fell 1.6 percent, with Air France KLM dropping 5.8 percent.
“What we have got is a significant amount of uncertainty over the evolution of coronavirus pandemic, which is maintaining a risk premium for the transportation, leisure and hospitality sectors,” said Alastair George, head strategist at Edison Investment Research.
Global stock markets also headed lower after lackluster retail sales numbers from the US and China, while data confirmed that the eurozone suffered the biggest drop ever recorded in employment and gross domestic product in the second quarter.
Worries over upcoming US-China trade talks amid souring diplomatic relations between the two countries and a lack of progress in negotiations over US economic stimulus, a major factor that has pushed US stocks near all-time highs, also weighed on the mood.
Despite Friday’s pullback, the STOXX 600 recorded its second straight week of gains — increasing 1.24 percent for the week — as huge quantities of stimulus coursing through the financial system and optimism over the development of a COVID-19 vaccine made investors buyers of equities.
In London, the blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 1.55 percent to 6,090.04, but it logged its second straight weekly gain, up 0.96 percent.
“We do believe there’s value in European equities,” said Matthias Scheiber, global head of multi asset portfolio management at Wells Fargo Asset Management. “It will be a long road to full employment and we will see job losses. However, Europe has managed reasonably well with various fiscal and monetary schemes.”
Among individual movers, German container shipping line Hapag-Lloyd surged 13.3 percent as it nearly doubled net profit in the first half of this year and kept its full-year outlook intact.
Rovio Entertainment, the maker of the 10-year-old Angry Birds mobile game series, rose 1.6 percent after reporting a 160 percent jump in second-quarter adjusted operating profit, helped by increased player engagement amid COVID-19 lockdowns.
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