European stocks slid, erasing a weekly gain, amid increasing concern that Greece’s efforts to renegotiate its debt and stay in the single currency will fail.
US stocks erased most of their gains for the week as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting next week.
DUBLIN
It was a relatively quiet day on the Dublin market, with the ISEQ index ending the day near flat at 6,210.08.
One Dublin stockbroker said there was no standout stock, with most shares off going into the weekend due to traders airing on the side of caution over Greece.
Financials were under pressure with Bank of Ireland, AIB and Permanent TSB all declining. Bank of Ireland fell almost 2 per cent to close at 35 cent, while AIB closed down 2.2 per cent at 8 cent. Permanent TSB declined 3.2 per cent to finish the day at €4.25.
There was good volume in the number of C&C shares traded. The stock ended the day near flat at €3.55. Meanwhile, GameAccountNetwork soared, climbing 9.5 per cent to 98 cent.
There was no major movement in the Reits. Green Reit fell 1.2 per cent while Hibernia Reit was down 1.9 per cent.
LONDON
Britain’s top equity index fell as lower oil prices hit energy stocks and concerns over Greece’s talks with international creditors weighed on sentiment.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 0.9 per cent down at 6,784.92 points, slightly outperforming major euro zone indexes.
The biggest weight on the index was Royal Dutch Shell, which fell 2.1 per cent, trimming nearly 10 points off the FTSE 100.
Rival oil major BP dropped 2.1 per cent and the energy sub-index was down 2.1 per cent on cheaper oil.
Petra Diamonds dropped 6.9 per cent after forecasting full-year revenue below market expectations.
The miner, which has four producing mines in South Africa and one in Tanzania, had warned in April that full-year results would be below market consensus due to variability in grade and production mix.
EUROPE
European stocks trimmed their weekly gain amid increasing concern that Greece’s efforts to renegotiate its debt and stay in the single currency will fail. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.9 per cent to 389.38 at the close of trading, paring its weekly gain to 0.1 per cent. The euro was little changed at $1.1272 after earlier weakening earlier.
Greece's ASE Index lost 5.9 per cent, for the biggest decline among western-European markets, with National Bank of Greece and Eurobank Ergasias falling more than 10 per cent.
Portugal’s PSI 20 Index posted the second-worst performance, with a 1.5 percent drop.
Among the European stocks moving on corporate news, Zodiac Aerospace sank 5.4 percent after saying it may not meet this year's target for operating income.
NEW YORK
US stocks fell, with equities briefly erasing a weekly gain, amid growing concern Greece won’t reach a debt deal with its creditors in time to avoid default.
Cisco Systems and Intel lost at least 1.5 per cent to pace a slide among technology companies.
Eli Lilly dropped 2.5 per cent to lead health-care companies lower.
Airlines climbed amid the decline in crude. Twitter rose after saying chief executive officer Dick Costolo will step down.
The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index lost 0.7 per cent to 2,093.94 in New York.
All 10 main groups in the SandP 500 dropped, with energy falling the most as crude prices sank. Exxon Mobil and Chevron lost more than 1.2 per cent. Marathon Petroleum and Transocean lost more than 2.1 percent.
Additional reporting: Bloomberg, Reuters
