European Stocks Slip on Slumping Commodities Prices, Weak Global Growth
LONDON (The Deal) -- European markets slipped Friday, following their Asian counterparts, as worries continued about slumping commodities prices and weak global growth. Despite that, big mining companies such as Anglo American (AAUKF) and Glencore (GLNCY) topped the leaderboard on London's FTSE 100 as they recovered some of the losses of the past few days.
In London, the FTSE100 was down 0.59% at 6,141.94, while in Paris the CAC 40 was off 0.39% at 4,387.50. In Frankfurt, the DAX was off 0.15% at 10,766.58.
In London, the government announced the sale of a £13 billion ($19.7 billion) portfolio of mortgages from the so-called bad bank of failed lender Northern Rock to U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP -- which has agreed to sell £3.3 billion of the debt on to British lender TSB Banking , which is now part of Spain's Banco de Sabadell. The government said it is selling the mortgages at £280 million more than the book value of the loans, meaning taxpayers will get back more than the government spent to buy them when Northern Rock failed at the start of the financial crisis.
Also in London, outsourced services group G4S fell over 5% to 224.0 pence as its full year dividend payment went live and aircraft engines maker Rolls Royce Holdings continued Thursday's descent following its latest profit warning. Rolls-Royce slipped 3.08% to 520 pence.
In Switzerland, seeds and agricultural chemicals group Syngenta (SYT) surged on a Bloomberg report that Chinese state-owned China National Chemical Corp. is in talks to buy the company, after it saw off an offer from U.S. rival Monsanto earlier this year. Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the news agency said Syngenta had rejected an offer of about Sfr449 a share, which would value the company at Sfr41.7 billion ($42 billion), but saw the figure as a basis for discussion. Syngenta, the world's largest pesticides producer, is also talking to other suitors and could also decide to remain independent or seek acquisitions of its own, Bloomberg said. Monsanto's last cash and shares offer before talks ended worked out at Sfr470 a share. Syngenta was up 7.2% late-morning in Zurich at Sfr370.80
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.51% at 19,596.91, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was off 2.15% at 22,396.14. China's Shanghai Composite index finished the day down 1.43% at 3,580.839