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| European stocks open lower in cautious trade |
European stocks opened lower on Thursday, tracking their Asian counterparts and as investors remained cautious ahead of the Bank of England’s monetary policy decision due later in the day.
During European morning trade, the EURO STOXX 50 declined 1%, France’s CAC 40 tumbled 1.10%, while Germany’s DAX 30 lost 1.02%.
Financial stocks were broadly lower, as French lenders Societe Generale and BNP Paribas declined 0.61% and 1.03%, while Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank retreated 0.67% and 0.51%.
Among peripheral lenders, Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo slipped 0.18%, while Spanish banks Banco Santander and BBVA lost 0.62% and 1.12% respectively.
Meanwhile, energy stocks were mixed after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels to 540 million barrels last week, compared with analyst expectations for an increase of 714,000 barrels.
The data was offset by news of an expected increase in Canadian oil sand crude output after wildfires disrupted over 1 million barrels of daily production capacity.
French oil and gas major Total SA slid 0.43% and Italy’s ENI dropped 0.52%. However, Norwegian rival Statoil ASA rallied 1.19%.
In London, FTSE 100 tumbled 0.93%, as U.K. lenders tracked their European counterparts sharply lower.
Barclays slid 0.46% and the Royal Bank of Scotland dropped 0.86%, while HSBC Holdings and Lloyds Banking plummeted 1.29% and 1.69% respectively.
In the mining sector, stocks were mixed. Shares in Glencore declined 1.04% and Antofagasta lost 2.51%, while Fresnillo jumped 1.02% and Randgold Resources rallied 1.48%.
Elsewhere, Mondi saw shares surge 2.30% after the packaging and paper company reported a 14% increase in first-quarter earnings.
Later Thursday, the BoE was expected to leave its monetary policy unchanged.
Investors were looking to comments by BoE Governor Mark Carney, scheduled after the policy statement, for indications on the central bank’s future policy moves.
In the U.S., equity markets pointed to a steady open. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.04% dip, S&P 500 futures a 0.02% uptick, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.03% gain.
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