(MENAFN– ecpulse)
European stocks slumped early Monday, weighed by fears of further escalation in the Iraq crisis while flash statistics showed the euro area recovery is losing momentum.
The market sentiment was quite downbeat this morning as the Iraq crisis escalated over the weekend, after Sunni militants siezed three towns in Iraq`s western Anbar province after taking control of two frontier crossings on Iraq-Syrian border.
The Stoxx Europe 600 retreating by 0.67% to 3.45.67 as of 04:33 a.m. ET. Telecoms led the deline with 0.86% loss.
- Britain`s FTSE 100 fell 0.55% to 6,787.85
- France`s CAC 40 fell 0.86% to 4,502.08
- Germany`s DAX 30 fell 0.89 to 9,898.70
More on Iraq, traffic on the main highway from Jordan to Baghdad was also halted after militants took control of Rutba on Sunday, CNBC News reported.
President Barack Obama warned that advances by militants could spill over into neighboring countries, as the Isil took all the border crossing with Jordan and Syria.
The Jordanian army didn`t immediately respond to a request for information about the situation on the border, according to Bloomberg news.
On the economic front, the equity selloff extended following a string of lackluster PMI data from the euro area amid concerns of low inflation and geopolitical tension in Ukraine.
PMI composite of manufacturing and services came in at 52.8 in June from 53.5 in May, compared to median forecasts of 53.4.
The manufacturing sector growth slowed to 51.9 from 52.2, while the services gauge recorded 52.8 from a prior of 53.2.
In Germany, the manufacturing sector widened expansion to 52.4 this month from 52.3 but the services showed a retreat from 56.0 to 54.8.
The French PMI manufacturing slipped to 47.8 in June from 49.6 and services measure fell to 48.2 from 49.1.
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