Europe close: Stocks decline as Covid-19 worries weigh on investor sentiment
By Alexander Bueso
Date: Thursday 02 Dec 2021
(Sharecast News) - European shares fell back again on Thursday amid worries about the impact that Covid-19 restrictions across the Continent might have and with big declines on Wall Street the night before weighing on investor sentiment.
The regional benchmark Stoxx 600 index was down 1.15%, even if after a strong rise on Wednesday. US shares on the other hand fell sharply after the country reported its first case of Omicron.
"The reversal in US markets last night has taken Europe down too, and despite some hopes of a bounce just after the open the overall tone remains gloomy," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
"The bounce of Wednesday's European session is now a distant memory, as the discovery of US cases of the new variant show that the spread of this new enemy has already begun. Now the issue becomes one of mitigation, and here the policy responses may yet provoke a further short-term hit to equities. "
In equity news, computer chip makers fell on a report that Apple had told parts suppliers demand for its iPhone 13 had slowed.
Shares in Infineon Technologies, ASML, AMS and BE Semiconductor were all lower as a result.
On the positive side, Vifor Pharma topped the Stoxx 600 with a 21% jump on a report that Australian Biotech giant CSL was in talks to buy the Swiss-based company in a AUD$10bn-plus deal.
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