Reuters, LONDON and MILANEuropean shares fell on Friday, with cars and basic resources stocks bearing the brunt of a wide sell-off triggered by mounting worries that US tariffs on up to US$60 billion of imports from China could escalate. Most sectors were trading in negative territory, sending the pan-regional STOXX 600 benchmark index falling for a third day, down 0.9 percent to its lowest level since February last year and down 3.1 percent for the week. Although there are risks that the tariffs could trigger a full-blown trade war, some investors said they still did not expect that to happen, adding that the retaliation measures announced by China remained relatively mild. However, caution pushed investors into defensive stocks, such as utilities and telecoms, which bucked the trend with gains of 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent respectively, as they are seen as less exposed to a deterioration in global trade. Eurozone indices, including the export-sensitive DAX, also fell 1.8 percent, but remained above lows seen early this month, while the FTSE declined 0.4 percent to fresh 15-month lows.

Source: Taipei Times March 24, 2018 15:56 UTC