Europe suffered a severe blow at mid-session, with losses of 2.94% in Milan, 3.62% in Paris, 3.34% in Frankfurt, reaching their lowest since October, and 2 .07% in London.
Global stock markets fell sharply Monday, won by the anguish of a possible imminent invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Europe suffered a severe blow at mid-session, with losses of 2.94% in Milan, 3.62% in Paris, 3.34% in Frankfurt, reaching their lowest since October, and 2 07% in London around 12:15 GMT. In Russia, the RTS index plunged 4.39%. In Zurich the SMI had slightly reduced its losses, but still yielded 1.36%.
The Asian markets had already set the tone earlier, Tokyo losing 2.23%, the Chinese stock markets falling more moderately (Hong Kong -1.41%, Shanghai -0.98%).
As of Friday, the geopolitical concerns of investors had swung Wall Street clearly into the red: the Dow Jones had lost 1.43%, the Nasdaq 2.78% and the broader S&P 500 index, 1.90%. A little before the New York opening, the futures contracts on these three indices suggested a continuation of the decline, down 0.67% for the Dow Jones.
Washington reaffirmed on Sunday that the Russians might attack Ukraine “at any time” and further intense diplomatic efforts over the weekend between Western leaders and the Kremlin did not lower the tension.
“The market is pricing in the danger of a price war,” observes Jochen Stanzl, analyst at CMC Markets. “Even though the hope for a last-minute diplomatic breakthrough in the Ukraine file remains high in the markets, many investors are being forced out of equities due to rising geopolitical risks.”
The fear of an armed conflict, on the contrary, pushes investors to take refuge in assets perceived as safer, such as government bonds; the 10-year yield of Germany, which is a reference in Europe, thus fell to 0.20%, once morest 0.30% at the close on Friday.
It also caused oil prices to soar to their highest in seven years. “The price of oil is thus closely monitored and might reach the threshold of 100 dollars in the short term and weigh a little more on the rise in inflation,” said Vincent Boy, analyst at broker IG France.
Tensions around Ukraine are at their height, with 130,000 Russian soldiers massed on the Ukrainian border carrying out all-out maneuvers. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is expected in Kiev on Monday to continue diplomatic efforts to defuse the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Banks massacred
All values were affected by this movement, but banking even more so. In Paris Societe Generale, particularly present in Russia, fell by 6.85% to 33.51 euros, BNP Paribas by 5.75% to 61.17 euros. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank plunged 4.79% to 13.71 euros, and Unicredit 5.58% to 14.81 euros.
transport blocked
Automobile stocks also suffered heavy losses, as did the entire industrial sector, which is sensitive to variations in economic activity.
Renault fell by 5.79% to 33.86 euros in Paris, BMW by 4.60% to 90.92 euros and Volkswagen by 4.58% to 180.00 euros in Frankfurt.
Airlines, such as Air-France-KLM (-5.08% to 4.16 euros) or the tourism giant TUI (-6.39% to 268.00 pence) in London were also strongly affected.
Clariant falls in Switzerland
The Swiss chemical group Clariant has postponed the publication of its annual results following an internal investigation into provisions suspected of having been “incorrectly” recorded. The title plunged 17.18% to 16.56 Swiss francs, in a market down 1.98%.
On the side of oil, the euro and bitcoin
Oil prices remained very high following surging more than 3% on Friday. The barrel of Brent for April delivery fell only 0.30% to 94.16 dollars, and the WTI for March maturity -0.29% to 92.83 dollars around 12:30 GMT.
The euro lost 0.38% once morest the greenback, at 1.1307 dollars.
Bitcoin fell 0.26% to $42,118.
