|
 China's February trade performance was far worse than economists
expected, with exports tumbling the most in over six years, days
after top leaders sought to reassure investors about the outlook for
the world's second-largest economy.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1.2 percent while the
MSCI All-Country World index weakened 0.4 percent.
The safe-haven Japanese yen rose while the low-yielding euro gained
against the dollar on Tuesday as the downbeat Chinese trade data
fueled concerns about the state of global demand, weighing on
appetite for riskier assets and currencies. [FRX/]
"At the moment we're in a bear stock market. Everyone's looking for
an excuse to sell out, and the reason today for a lot of investors
is the weak China data," said Andreas Clenow, hedge fund principal
and trader at ACIES Asset Management.
The soft Chinese data also impacted oil and metals prices. Oil
prices also eased back after Kuwait said it would only agree to an
output freeze if all major producers took part. [O/R]
The MSCI Emerging Market index fell 0.7 percent while U.S. stock
index futures also shed around 1 percent. [.N]
The euro's outlook rests largely on expectations the European
Central Bank will announce more monetary stimulus measures on
Thursday to boost ultra-low inflation and sluggish growth in the
euro zone.
[to top of second column] |
A small 10 basis point cut to push its deposit rate deeper into
negative territory is a foregone conclusion while some type of
adjustment of the bank's 1.5 trillion euro asset purchase program is
also near certain.
Nevertheless, investors expressed uncertainty over the extent of the
ECB's likely new measures on Thursday.
"We think the central bank will once again struggle to beat high
expectations, with the euro not likely to suffer significantly after
the announcement," BNP Paribas analysts wrote in a note to clients.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag and Saikat Chatterjee; Editing
by Catherine Evans)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
