LONDON: Europe’s major stock markets diverged at the open on Monday as dealers assessed the impact of Iran’s strike on Israel over the weekend.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies fell 0.3 percent to 7,974.59 points while the Paris CAC 40 index rose 0.5 percent to 8,054.37 points and the DAX in Frankfurt added 0.6 percent to 18,036.01.
Iran ramped up Middle East tensions on Saturday by launching a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel.
“When Iran launched drone and military attacks on Israel… it was the culmination of a build-up of tensions over a number of weeks,” said XTB analyst Kathleen Brooks.
Global markets diverge before US inflation, ECB
She added: “The market was deeply concerned about the scale of this attack and whether it would lead to a wider escalation of war in the Middle East.
“At the start of a new week, that uncertainty has disappeared, there was minimal damage from the strikes and there were no fatalities.”
Comments