LONDON: European stock markets retreated Monday following a largely downbeat performance by Asia, as traders digested the outlook for global growth.
World stocks had rallied on Friday despite talk that the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates in June.
G7 finance ministers on Saturday voiced concern about the sluggish global economy as they looked for a plan to stoke growth, while a currency policy clash overshadowed their meetings.
The club of rich nations also pledged to tackle tax avoidance in the wake of the Panama Papers investigation and beef up efforts to disrupt the murky world of terrorism financing.
Monday's big corporate news came from German drugs and chemicals giant Bayer, which said it had offered $62 billion (55 billion euros) for US agriculture group Monsanto as it seeks to create the world's biggest supplier of seeds, pesticides and genetically-modified crops.
Around 1145 GMT, Bayer shares were trading down 3.24 percent at 86.64 euros on Frankfurt's DAX 30 index, which was down 0.7 percent overall.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index fell 0.3 percent and the Paris CAC 40 shed 1.0 percent compared with Friday's closing levels.
In foreign exchange, the euro fell against the dollar, which in turn was down versus the yen.
Tokyo's main stocks index closed down 0.5 percent also after Japan published fresh data showing exports had faltered in April.
A stronger yen hurts Japanese exporters, a key driver of the world's third largest economy, by making their products relatively more expensive overseas.
Japan last intervened in currency markets around November 2011, when it tried to stem the yen's rise against the dollar to keep an economic recovery on track after the quake-tsunami disaster earlier that year.
It had hoped its G7 counterparts -- the United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Canada -- would give it some wiggle room to tame the unit as it threatens Japan Inc's profits.
But the G7 agreed on the "importance of all countries refraining from competitive devaluation", while US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew pressed Tokyo to uphold its earlier commitment not to interfere with exchange rates.
The meeting came ahead of a G7 summit in Japan later this week to be attended by US President Barack Obama and other leaders.
- Key figures around 1145 GMT -
===============================
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,138.99
Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.7 percent at 9,842.44
Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 1.0 percent at 4,312.14
EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 1.1 percent at 2,930.74
Tokyo: Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 16,654.60 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 2,843.65 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.2 percent at 19,809.03 (close)
New York - Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 17,500.94 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1205 from $1.1220 on Friday
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.46 yen from 110.15 yen
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.