ROME: Europe’s main STOCK MARKETS have closed lower as traders awaited an update on the outlook for US interest rates.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index slid 0.4 per cent on the day to 6,937.41 points after earlier showing gains on the back of news that Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to a huge takeover of BG Group.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index lost 0.7 per cent to 12,035.86 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.3 per cent to 5,136.86 points.
Traders were looking ahead to the release of minutes of the last interest rate meeting of the US Federal Reserve, with dealers set to pore over them for clues as to when the US central bank plans to announce a hike in borrowing costs.
News of the Shell-BG merger initially boosted the FTSE, with investors “driven no doubt by the idea that the heavily energy-directed index could see yet more merger and acquisition activity off the back of the recent fall in OIL PRICES”, Joshua Mahoney, analyst at IG trading group, said.
“However, this news appears to have hidden the largely mixed sentiment seen throughout the European markets (ahead of) a crucial deadline for Greece,” he said.
