European shares opened lower on Friday and are on track to post weekly losses as concerns around interest rates globally remaining higher for longer and dwindling growth prospects in China hammered risk sentiment.
As of 0703 GMT, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.5% and poised for its fourth consecutive day of losses, if trend holds. Surging bond yields have pressured equities this week, with the STOXX 600 headed for a weekly fall of nearly 2%.
China’s economy was the other topic on investors’ minds as a series of economic data and ructions in the property sector have laid bare the stumbling post-pandemic recovery.
Shares of China-exposed luxury heavyweights LVMH, Kering and Hermes fell between 0.6% and 1.2% on heightened concerns of weak economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
Embattled developer China Evergrande Group filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court as part of one of the world’s biggest debt restructuring exercises. European miners, who also face an exposure to China, fell 1.1% in early trade.
UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.6% after data showed British retail sales slumped more sharply than expected in July.
Among individual stocks, Frankfurt-listed SUSE surged 58% after the software solutions provider said it would be taken private by its majority shareholder EQT AB for an offer price of 16 euros per share.
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