By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stock markets traded with
broad-based losses on Friday, as ongoing tensions in Ukraine and
worries about slowing economic growth in China hampered the
investing mood.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.6% to 322.73, setting it on
track for a 3.2% decline for the week, which would mark the biggest
weekly loss since late January.
The pan-European benchmark was weighed by a 1.5% drop for French
conglomerate Bouygues SA amid developments in the company's plan to
takeover Vivendi SA's (TICKER:FR:VIV) phone business. French
Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said the board of Vivendi
prefers cable operator Altice SA's bid to buy a controlling stake
in its SFR phone unit, rather than the offer from rival Bouygues.
Vivendi shares dropped 0.8%.
The losses dragged the French CAC 40 index down by 0.8% to
4,216.29, indicating the benchmark will close at its lowest level
since early February.
Meanwhile, Germany's DAX 30 index gave up 0.9% to 4,711.18 and
the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 0.4% to 6,527.13.
The broader losses came as investors shunned riskier assets such
as equities ahead of Sunday's referendum in Ukraine that's likely
to see citizens of the Crimea region vote to return the Black Sea
peninsula to Russia. Violent clashes in the eastern Ukrainian city
of Donetsk overnight between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine activists
reportedly left one person dead and several injured.
The Ukrainian government, the U.S. and the European Union
contend the referendum is illegal, and a vote in favor of rejoining
Russia would likely be followed by a round of U.S.- and
European-led sanctions against Moscow.
But that scenario is unlikely to cause long-lasting turmoil as
it's already priced into the markets, most analysts said. In
Friday's trade, however, Russian stocks tumbled ahead of the vote
with the MICEX Index down 2.8% at 1,214.90.
Meanwhile, lingering uncertainty about a slowdown in China's
economy also kept investors on edge. Data out earlier in the week
showing a surprisingly large drop in exports, coupled with
disappointing industrial-output numbers and retail sales out on
Thursday has triggered a wave of fresh concerns the world's
second-largest economy is heading for a hard landing.
Copper prices have been hit particularly hard by the concerns,
although prices rebounded slightly on Friday.
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