Europe close: Oil resumes slide, sending Russian Rouble plummeting
European stocks tumbled on the first day of the week, following a renewed slide in oil prices.
Germany’s Dax-30 was a big loser, down by 2.72%, while the FTSE Mibtel was off by another 2.81%. Paris’s Cac-40 experienced a similar retreat, surrendering 2.52%.
The Athens Stock Exchange’s main index was an exception, bouncing back by 1.45% ahead of the country’s first round of presidential elections on 17 December.
Acting as a backdrop, the Russian Rouble depreciated sharply, by almost 10%, to a new record low of 63.59 versus the US dollar.
As of 17:09 front month Brent crude futures were falling 1.59% to hit $60.88 per barrel on the ICE.
Over the weekend Libya was forced to declare “force majeure” at two of its ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, which have a combined capacity to export 560,000 barrels of oil per day. That gave oil an initial bid which petered out as the day progressed.
A regional survey of manufacturing conditions from the Federal Reserve bank of New York revealed that activity slowed down in December.
The New York Fed’s manufacturing sector index dropped to a reading of -3.6 from 10.2 in the prior month and versus economists’ forecasts for a reading of 12.
That was in stark comparison to other recent readings on the sector, including today’s report on industrial production Stateside which revealed a much sharper than expected rise of 1.2% month-on-month in November.
All of the above came ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting, which was scheduled for the following Wednesday.
This time around some analysts thought it may omit any reference to interest rates remaining low “for a considerable period of time” following the end of quantitative easing.
In company news, CGG plummeted as Technip SA walked away from a bid to buy the French seismic surveyor, according to a statement. Technip gained 1% on the news.
Danske Bank A/S moved lower after the Danish lender said it will write down 9bn kroner in goodwill following talks with the country’s financial regulator.
The euro fell 0.26% to $1.2429.
Front month Brent crude futures lost 0.95% to $61.27 per barrel on the ICE.