European Stocks Close Sharply Lower On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - European stocks tumbled on Monday, hitting two-month lows in the process, amid worries about slowing global growth, concerns over a potential spillover of the debt crisis at China Evergrande Group and the prospect of tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

The Fed's policy meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to lay the groundwork for a tapering.

The Bank of England, scheduled to announce its monetary policy on Thursday, is expected to adopt a hawkish tone after inflation hit an over nine-year high.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slumped 1.67%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.86%, Germany's DAX plunged 2.31% and France's CAC 40 declined 1.74%, while Switzerland's SMI shed 1.42%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey all ended sharply lower, with their benchmarks falling by 1 to 3%.

In the UK market, Prudential plunged nearly 8.5% after it announced a share offer to raise up to 5% of its issued share capital on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange through a concurrent Hong Kong public offer and international placing.

Standard Chartered tumbled 7% and Schrodders declined 6.6%. Smith (DS), ICP, Anglo American Plc, Ashtead Group, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Just Eat Takeaway, Antofagasta, Glencore, Aviva, Evraz, Natwest Group, Rio Tinto and Fresnillo lost 2 to 5.2%.

IAG soared more than 11%. AstraZeneca shares climbed 6.15% after the pharmaceutical giant said that its cancer treatment Enhertu reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 72 percent in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Rolls-Royce Holdings gained 4.25% and Polymetal International surged up 2.05%. Unilever, Sainsbury (J), GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser and Compass Group also ended notably higher.

In the French market, ArcelorMittal ended nearly 7% down. Societe Generale, Faurecia, Technip and BNP Paribas 4.2 to 5.4%.

Air France-KLM climbed nearly 5.5% and Safran gained about 2.6%.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank plunged more than 7% and Continental lost nearly 6%. Volkswagen, Munich RE, Siemens, Covestro, Allianz, HeidelbergCement, Porsche Automobil, BMW, Infineon Technologies, Merck, SAP and BASF shed 2 to 5%.

Daimler declined sharply after media reports quoted the chief of the company's truck division as saying the unit had seen the supply of crucial chips tighten further in recent weeks.

Credit Agricole, Valeo, Legrand, Schneider Electric, Michelin, Accor, Renault, Saint Gobain, Capgemini and STMicroElectronics lost 1.7 to 4%.

In economic releases, German producer price inflation rose to 12% in August from 10.4% in July, Destatis reported. This was the biggest growth since December 1974, when prices were up 12.4% amid the first oil crisis.

The average price of property coming to the UK housing market hits a new all-time high in September despite the traditional summer holiday lull, data from property website Rightmove showed.

The average asking price was GBP 338,462. Nonetheless, Rightmove said this new record high was only GBP 15 higher than the previous record set in July, a sign that prices are now stabilizing.

House prices increased 5.8% year-on-year in September after rising 5.6% in August, the data said.